RABAT, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Morocco launched on Wednesday a three-billion-U.S. dollar program to promote early childhood education.
Dubbed the national preschool generalization and development program, the latter aims to ensure schooling for 700,000 kids every year by 2028.
The program aims to create over 57,000 classrooms over the next decade, mobilize 56,000 teachers and train 27,000 teachers.
The program aims also to reinvigorate traditional preschool education programs which serve over 460,000 children to enable it to operate with the same national unified standards.
According to official statistics, only around half of the Moroccan kids benefit from preschool programs, and there are significant disparities between urban and rural areas.
In a message read at the launching ceremony, the Moroccan King Mohammed VI stressed that early childhood education must be made compulsory for the state and the family, noting that any reform should be based on this solid foundation, since early years education enables children to acquire mental and cognitive skills and abilities that ensure smooth access to learning and success in school.
