35th X Report No 4105-MOR 7 Kingdom of Morocco 1 Education and Training Sector Survey (In Six Volumes) Volume 1: Overview June 10, 1983 Education and Manpower Development Division Europe, Middle East and North Africa Region FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY U FILE COFY ..~~ Y Document of the World Bank Ths document has a restited dmitribon ard may be used by recipients only n the perrmance of their offica duties. Its contents may not oteise be disclosed wthot World Bank authinzation ,1, I it U FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY GLOSSSARY CCS - Commercial Training Center CET - Womens' Workshops CFI - Primary School Teacher Training Center CFP - Vocational Training Center CNCPR - National Center for the Coordination and Planning of Scientific and Technical Research CFPT - Tailoring Training Center CNERV - National Center for Agricultural Extension Training and Research COR - Reformatory for Boys CPR - Regional Teacher Training Center CQP - Vocational Training Center CRAFA - Farmer Training Center CRFR - Regional Agricultural Training and Research Center EAT - Housing Technician Training School DEAR - Department of Agricultural Education and Research (MARA) DVARA - Department of Agricultural Extension and Agrarian Reform (MARA) ENA - National School of Agriculture ENFCCS - National Commercial Tra:ining Institute ENSET - Higher Technical Teacheir Training College FAO - United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization IFIT - Institute of Industrial Technology ILO - International Labour Office IMB - Institute of Construction Crafts INFCT - National Institute for Technical Staff Training INRA - Institute of Agricultural Research IPN - National Pedagogical Institute ITA - Institute of Applied Technology ISERF - Institute for Studies, Research, and Training for the Sugar Industry MARA - Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform MASA - Ministry of Social Affairs and Handicrafts MJS - Ministry of Youth and Sports MOE - Ministry of National Education MOL - Ministry of Labor MOP - Ministry of Planning Office - National Office of Vocational Training and Work Promotion RTSM - Educational Radio-Television UNDP - United Nations Development Programme UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization This document has a restricted distribution and may be used by recipients only in the performance of their official duties. Its contents may not otherwise be disclosed without World Bank authorization. KINGDOM OF MOROCCO EDUCATION AND TRAINING SECTOR SURVEY Basic Data 1. Area (thousand km2) Total; 447 a/ Agricultural; 202 a/ 2. Population (1981) Total; 21.3 million Urban; 8.7 million Rural: 12.6 million Rate of Growth; 3.0% 3. GNP Per Capita (1981) US$869 4. Health (1978-80) Population per Physician; 11,000 Population per Hospital Bed: 775 Life Expectancy at Birth; 57 years Infant Mortality Rate; 107 per thousand 5. Education (1979-80) Gross Enrollment Ratios Male Female Total Primary School 93% 56% 75% Lower Secondary School 32% 20% 26% Upper Secondary School 18% 9% 14% University N.A. N.A. 9% 6. Labor Force (1979) Employment Shares by Sector Agriculture; 53% Industry; 21% Services; 26% Participation Rates Males; 44% Females; 8% 7. Exchange Rate (June 1982) US$1.00 = 6.26 dirhams (Dli) a/ Excluding former Spanish Sahara KINGDOM OF MOROCCO EDUCATION AND TRAINING SECTOR SURVEY Table of Contents Page No GLOSSARY BASIC DATA INTRODUCTION I. OVERVIEW A. Background Land, People, and Resources. .............................. I.1 Economy.. ...... .... .-...oo..-*.......... .... O.. 1.2 Education and Training System...o...o....o....o.......... I.3 Education Strategy ........ * .......*.. **...*.* ..................... I.5 B. Education and Training Issues Primary School Efficiency..# .... .................... I.6 Moderating the Growth of Higher Education . I.9 Expanding Skill Training .............. <................ . ... I.10 Content and Coverage of Agricultural Training .. I.12 Expenditure Reductions ........... . ....................... .......... . I.13 II. INVESTMENT IN EDUCATION AND TRAINING A. Introduction ........................ .. ...... ..... II.1 B. Investments in Education and Training . ...... ......... II.2 Planned Investments in Education and Training . . II.2 Proposals for Reducing Costs.................. II.4 Capacity to Execute the Program ........ II.8 C. Operating Costs of the Education and Training System ........ II.9 Present Costs and Expenses....*...* .................... II.9 Financial Outlook ................. ............. ....................... II.11 Proposals for Reducing MOE Expenditures-e, ............. II.12 Operating Expenditures for Training Institutions .......... II.21 Conclusion ......... . , ......I.....0...... I.22 III. GENERAL EDUCATION A. Organization of the Educational System ............1....... B. Principals, Objectives and Priorities ....................... III.3 Table of Contents (Cont'd.) Page No C. Analysis of the System ............ . .... ............ . III.5 The Ministry of Education Plan ............ ................ III.5 Enrollments by Level .......... . ........................... III.6 Internal Efficiency: Repeaters and Dropouts ............... 111.8 Geographical Imbalances ........... ....... ................. . III.10 Teacher Training .................. ...*... .......................... III.ll Administration ........................ ............................. III.13 Educational Research .....111. 13 Summary of Problems and Inadequacies in the System ........ III.13 D. Conclusions and Recommendations ......11............... III.15 Educational Reform .................... ... o.......................... III.15 Priority Problems ....... ... .. .... III.15 Elements of a Strategy . . ..... III.19 IV. AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING A. Introduction ................................................. IV.1 The State of Agriculture in Morocco .......l................ IV.1 Agricultural Development Policy ....... ... ............ . IV.2 ,luman Resources of the Rural Sector o ..................o. IV.4 Agricultural Technical Staff ................. IV.6 B. Issues in Agricultural Training ............. ................ IV.9 Young Farmer Training (CRAFAS) ............................ IV.9 Agricultural Higher Education ............................. IV.12 Agricultural Technical Education ......................... IV.15 C. Conclusions .... .. ......... .. ................... IV.24 V. TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING A. Introduction ........................... V.1 Socio-Economic Background ........ . ............... V.1 Manpower and Training Data ............ o................... V.2 B. Training . . . . ................................................ V.6 Overview ....... ........................... . v.6 Ministry of National Education (MOE)....0................ V.11 National Office of Vocational Training and Work Promotion (the Office) ... ......... o............... V.13 Ministry of Commerce and Industry . . .......... V.21 Ministry of Housing .................... #... .. V.23 Ministry of Social Affairs and Handicrafts ........ V.24 Ministry of Public Works .............. ..... . V.25 Table of Contents (Cont'd.) Page No C. Major Issues and Areas of Possible Intervention............. V.26 Overview ............................. V.26 The Issues ......................................... V.26 Areas for Possible Foreign Participation .................. V.32 VI. NON-FORMAL EDUCATION A. Introduction ................*...* . ..I... VI.1 B. Existing Non-Formal Programs**..**..****** ....*..so* ...... VI.1 Vocational Training for Boys ............................... VI.2 Training for Grs............................ VI.4 Handicrafts Training Centers.*..... ................... VI.6 Literacy Training. ........ ... ..................... VI.7 Educational Television ........ ........... ................. VI.8 C. Conclusions and Recommendations ............................ VI.9 Definition of Objectives .................................. VI.9 Women's Training ........... .......I.................. . ..VI.10 Handicrafts ... .. .................... ....... VI.10 Basic Educationin. . ...... . .0. .* .......... ....... VI.13 Teacher Training ...... .....t......*..... .**.....o........, VI.12 Financing ............................................ VI.13 EFquivalency ....................... .*.......*...... ,,... VI.13 Annexes .......... o................ ... oo........... ,... VI.14 INTRODUCTION i. This sector survey reports the findings of a Bank mission which visited Morocco in October 1981. The mission comprised Messrs. A. Zhiri (general educator), M. Botti (economist, UNESCO), S. Syrimis (vocational training expert, consultant), A. Jaoua (manpower planner, consultant), and Miss R. Hees (nonformal education expert). Mr. M. Mertaugh contributed the first, overview section of the report, and provided critical inputs to other sections of the report. The current version of the report reflects comments made by the Government in December, 1982 on the green-cover version of the report. ii. The survey was carried out in response to the Moroccan Government's growing concern with the need for changes in the education/training system in order to overcome the country's development constraints. The survey also addresses the need for improved efficiency of education and training activities in view of the current fiscal sil:uation in Morocco. iii. The survey consists of an overview and five specialized reports covering economic and financial aspects, general education, agricultural training, vocational and technical training,, and non-formal education. A consultant report was also prepared on manpower data, but is not included here because of the paucity of reliable and up-to-date manpower figures. The overview report provides a synthesis of the specialized reports; it presents the major issues in education and training in Morocco, together with recommended action. The overview report al,io presents a brief background for the survey. iv. The specific implications of the fiLndings of the sector survey for future Bank lending and sector work are presented in an Education Sector Memorandum (4480-MOR), dated April 29, 19831 KINGDOM OF MOROCCO EDUCATION AND TRAINING SECTOR SURVEY OVERV IEW A. BACKGROUND Land, People and Resources 1.01 Situated opposite the Straits of Gibraltar, the Kingdom of Morocco is bordered on the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, and on the east and southeast by Algeria. Morocco's topography is dominated by three mountain ranges which traverse the country on a southwest-northeast axis. The mountains capture the precipitation which feeds Morocco's river system, the most extensive in North Africa and a valuable source of water for irrigation. Two particularly important irrigated agricultural areas are the Tadla plain, south of Casablanca, and the Rharb plain, northeast of Kenitra. These areas and the area between them support the highest density of population in the country. About 41% of Morocco's population is urban. Urban population is particularly densely concentrated in the coastal strip between Casablanca and Kenitra; this 135 kilometer coastal ribbon includes fully half the urban population of the country. In contrast, population density in Morocco's arid southeast, where grazing predominates, is only about five inhabitants per square kilometer. Despite its rugged terrain, Morocco has an excellent transportation infrastructure. In addition to its access to coastal shipping, it has a 2,000 kilometer rail network, 50,000 kilometers of roads (more than half of them paved), and more than 50 civil airports. 1.02 Morocco's major economic resources are fertile land and relatively abundant water supply, extensive deposits of phosphate rock, and numerous tourist attractions. Discovery of natural gas at Mescala in 1981 raises the prospect of commercially exploitable energy resources, but the extent of these resources is yet to be established. Per-capita gross national product (GNP) in 1981 was US$869. 1.03 The Government is a constitutional monarchy. The constitution, which confirms the role of the King, Hassan II, as secular and religious leader of the country, was approved by popular referendum in 1972. There is a 264-seat 2 unicameral Parliament, with two thirds of the members elected directly by universal adult suffrage and the remainder indirectly elected by community councils and business, labor, and farmer groups. The elected Parliament convened its first session in October 1977. 1.04 Morocco's current population size is 21.3 million, and is growing at 3.0% per year. In the absence of clear government policy favoring lower fertility, the rate of population growth is likely to decline only very slowly--through expanded female education and other modernization efforts. Because of the high current and past rates of population growth, the country has a very young age structure, which will lead to rapid growth of the school-age population and the labor force at least throughout the next decade, regardless of how rapidly fertility may fall. Forty-six percent of Morocco's population is less than 15 years old. As these young people enter the labor force during the 1980s and 1990s, they will raise the rate of growth of the labor force from its current level of 3.0% per year to over 3.5% by the end of the period. Economy 1.05 Morocco's recent economic performance has been dominated by the surge of growth and investment which followed the 1973 tripling of phosphate prices, by a return to more modest levels of investment and growth in 1978-80, and by a deterioration of the economic situation since 1981. Annual GDP growth averaged 4.4% during the period 1969-73, rose progressively to 10.8% in 1976, and then averaged less than 4% during the period 1978-80, due in part to the severe drought during that period. The rate of GDP growth was negative, about -1%, in 1981. The budget deficit increased from 7.3 billion dirhams (US$1.4 billion) in 1980 to 11.3 billion dirhams (14% of GDP) in 1981, and the debt service ratio rose from 21% of exports in 1979 to 27% in 1980 and 33% in 1981. Investments of the magnitude programmed in the 1981-85 Five-Year Plan, which are 80% above actual investment outlays in 1981, would lead to an even greater dependence on external financing. In view of the seriousness of Morocco's economic and financial situation, measures to reduce capital and recurrent budgetary expenditures and to increase domestic revenues and savings are clearly called for. 1.06 Comprehensive data on levels and structure of employment in Morocco are available only from the 1960 and 1971 censuses, but more recent data from employment surveys provide an approximate profile. Morocco's current labor force numbers about 5.5 million; the unemployment rate is estimated currently at about 9%. Controlling the growth in the number of unemployed will become more difficult in the immediate future. Accelerating growth of the labor force will necessitate rapid employment creation throughout the coming generation to avoid rising levels of umemployment. The 1981-85 Plan projects an employment growth rate of 3.7% per year. This target will be particularly difficult to achieve if agricultural employment increases only at the projected rate of 0.7% per year, since it would require a 6.4% rate of growth of non-agricultural employment. By comparison, non-agricultural employment grew at 5.9% per year during the period of exceptionally rapid growth in the mid 1970s. 3 1.07 As in most developing countries, the structure of employment in Morocco is shifting away from agriculture toward industry and services. Agricultural employment grew by Just 1% per year between 1960 and 1980, resulting in a decline in the proportion of labor force engaged in agriculture from 62% in 1960 to 47% in 1980. The shares of industry and services employment rose during the same period from 12% and 22% to 20% and 29%, respectively. A cause for concern is the low and declining average level of productivity of agricultural labor. Average agricultural output per worker, measured in 1969 dirhams, was just 2,056 dirhams per year in 1971--versus 9,435 dirhams for industry and almost 11,00U dirhams for services. By comparison to these averages, constant-price agricultural output per worker had declined by 22% in 1977, while constant-p:rice output per worker rose by 6i/ in industry and by 10% in services. This decLine in agriculture productivity reflects, inter alia, a relative neglect of agricultural investments, particularly in rainfed areas, and an aging of the agricultural labor force as heavy rural-urban migration has drawn away the youngest and most dynamic elements of the rural labor force. Two seriouis consequences of the decline in productivity of agricultural labor are an increasing food deficit--food imports rose by 21% per year in current prices between 1971 and 1977--and a worsening distribution of income between urbanl and rural areas. 1.08 The scarcity of recent data on the educational achievement and skill qualifications of the labor force is a serious impediment to planning of education and training to meet manpower needs. A manpower planning study now being carried out by the Ministry of Planning (MOP) should provide a basis for improved manpower planning, but new census daLa will be necessary before detailed conclusions on manpower needs can be drawn. Until data from the recent census--carried out in October 1982--are available, it is necessary to rely on fragmentary survey evidence to infer current and prospective manpower needs. One of the most recent employment surveys carried out in Morocco finds that the proportion of supervisory staff and skilled and semi-skilled workers in electrical and mechanical industries is low by comparison with those of other countries similar levels of development. This finding is consistent with the structure of the current training system in Morocco, in which capacity for training skilled and semi-skilled workers is limited by comparison with the capacity for training engineers and technicians. Education and Training System 1.09 Morocco's educational system prior to the Protectorate was traditional and religious. Koranic schools provided instruction in religion and Arabic language as a source of access to scriptural texts. Being typically the largest structure in the village, the Koranic school also served as a gathering place for social and community functions. Higher education was provided in religious colleges (medersas), the most renowned of which is the Quaraouine University--founded in Fes in the ninth century. Scholarship in the medersas consisted of scriptural studies through deductive analysis. Because it assumed unknown and unforeseeable results, the inductive, experimental approach of western science was deeply alien to the traditional form of scholarship carried out in the medersas. Modern, scientific education was developed in Morocco after independence in 1956. 4 1.10 The Ministry of National Education (MOE) is responsible for formal education and training which includes primary, general and technical secondary, and post-secondary education (technical training institutes, teacher training institutes, and the College of Applied Engineering) as well as the universities. Primary school is five years in duration; lower and upper-cycle secondary are four and three years, respectively. Schooling is nominally compulsory for all boys and girls between the ages of 7 and 13. 1.11 Considerable progress has been achieved in attaining the Government's quantitative objectives in formal education, although school enrollment as a percentage of school-age population at all levels is lower than in most other countries at similar levels of income. Between 1973 and 1980, primary and secondary enrollments in Morocco increased 6.4% and 10.6% per year, respectively. University enrollments increased by 17.9% per year. Estimated enrollment ratios in 1980 were 75% of the primary school age groups, 26% of the lower secondary, 14% of the upper secondary, and 9% of the post-secondary age group. Female students accounted for 37% of primary and lower secondary enrollments and 32% of upper secondary enrollments, which is about average for a country at Morocco's stage of development. Significant differences in enrollment ratios between urban and rural areas persist despite government efforts to improve schooling in rural areas. Average primary school enrollment ratios are less than half as high in rural areas as in urban areas. 1.12 Measures have been taken to reorient education from the more theoretical content and methodology inherited from the Protectorate toward applied science and technology. A practical activities program introduced under the third education project has now been extended to 120 primary schools, and the new "Introduction to Technology" subject has been added to the lower secondary curriculum. The Government's planned shift in enrollments from the arts to the mathematics/science option in secondary schools (55% of upper secondary enrollments) has been achieved. 1.13 Technical training outside the formal education system is offered by various sectoral ministries to meet their own needs, by the semi-autonomous National Office of Vocational Training and Work Promotion (Office de la Formation Professionnel et de la Promotion du Travail--or, simply, the Office), which provides for the needs of private-sector industrial and commercial employers, and by in-house programs of the larger industrial and commercial establishments. Apprenticeship training is poorly developed. The Office has expanded rapidly since its creation in 1975 and is now the largest single source of pre-service and in-service training. Vocational training capacity, however, remains far below needs. The MOP is charged with coordinating the planning of vocational and technical training outside the formal educational system, but has never had adequate resources to carry out this task effectively. 1.14 The 1981-85 Plan foresees major investments for the education and training sector over the five-year period. Investments are programmed at 9.2 billion dirhams (about US$1.5 billion), for the formal school system and at 2.3 billion dirhams (about US$380 million), for vocational training. In real 5 terms, this level of investment would be almost twice as high as the annual level of education investment achieved during the 1978-80 Plan period, and almost four times as high as the actual annual investment in training. It would require a doubling of the share of buc.getary investment in education and training from 10% in recent years to about 20%, and would raise from 1.5% to 3% the share of GDP devoted to education and training investment. The Plan investment program would also significantly raise recurrent expenditures on education and training. Although the Plan cloes not analyze the recurrent expenditures associated with its education and training investment program, mission estimates indicate that the Plan investment program would raise recurrent expenditures on education by about 60% by 1985, and would raise recurrent expenditures on training by an even greater amount. Education Strategy 1.15 The Government's strategy in educat:ion and training has undergone numerous changes since independence. These changes reflect the instability of a system which has gone through more than 20 Ministers of Education since 1956 and which has frequently restructured responsibility for training. Public interest in education and training issues has increased as access to education has improved. Although the Government has given some attention to quality and content of instruction, particularly in Bank-supported education and training projects, the real preoccupation has been with developing a fully indigenous training capacity and expanding enrollments in the formal education system. By comparison with these concerns, government policy has neglected qualitative aspects such as curriculum content, pedagogical method of instruction, balance among different levels of education, and coordination of education and training policy. Section B describes some of the problems resulting from this lack of attention to qualitative aspects of education and training policy and proposes measures to deal with them. 1.16 A new strategy in education and training is under consideration by the National Commission on Education Reform. Until that reform appears, the most explicit description of the Government's current education and training strategy appears in the 1981-85 Five-Year Development Plan. Among the goals of the Plan are to achieve universal enrollment of primary-age children by 1992, to raise the proportion--now less than l0%--of upper-cycle secondary students enrolled in technical streams, and to continue the very rapid expansion of university enrollments. During the Plan period, primary and secondary school enrollments are projected to increase at 8% per year; university enrollments are projected to increase at 14% per year. 1.17 As in previous plans, the composition of proposed investments in education and training in the current Plan favors formal educational programs. Investments in formal education programs of the MOE constitute more than 80% of total planned investment for the sector, with training programs in the Office of Vocational Training and various sectoral ministries receiving less than 20% of the total. Of the investment funds programmed for the Ministry, the amounts allocated to primary, secondary, university education, and teacher training constitute 26%, 43%, 23% and 8% of planned outlays, respectively. 6 1.18 The current Development Plan proposes no changes in the structure of education. The Government has, however, recently announced that it intends to adopt an eight-year program of basic education, which would combine the current levels of primary and lower-cycle secondary instruction. The Government has also recently confirmed its intention to generalize the practical activities curriculum which is being introduced in primary schools under the third and fifth projects, but given the Government's current fiscal situation, it is doubtful whether the basic teaching equipment for this program will be provided to non-project schools. 1.19 Training activities in Morocco have developed in an ad hoc fashion. As the current fragmentation of responsibilities for training suggests, there has never been an effective mechanism for ensuring consistency or coherence of the training efforts of various ministries. The Government recognizes the need for such a mechanism and has established a Permanent Commission for Vocational Training and Employment to consider means of developing a coherent training program. Legislation is now being drafted to establish a new system for apprenticeship training. Administrative responsibility for the Office has recently been shifted from the Ministry of Labor (MOL) to the MOP. The MOP is conducting a study of education, manpower and employment demand designed to provide basic data for the restructuring of the training system. 1.20 The 1981-85 Plan programs 2.3 billion dirhams (US$380 million) for investments in training, with the largest allocation destined for the Office. This investment program is designed to double total training capacity, trom 65,000 places in 1980 to more than 125,000 places in 0985. If achieved, this expansion would accommodate 51% of the students who leave the formal school system before completion of secondary school (as compared with 37% in 1980.) The investment program would also result in a training system that is relatively heavily weighted in favor of supervisory and skilled workers; Of the total increase in training capacity planned for 1985, 8% would be for training of professional and administrative staff, 31% for supervisory staff, 33% for skilled workers, and only 28% for training of semi-skilled workers. B. EDUCATION AND TRAINING ISSUES 1.21 The specialized subject reports in this sector survey identify numerous issues of policy as well as issues of performance, efficiency, and content of education and training programs in Morocco. This section presents the most serious of those issues, in approximate order of importance, together with recommended remedial measures. A fuller treatment of these and other issues in education and training appears in the specialized subject reports included as Parts II through VI of this report. Primary School Efficiency 1.22 The most serious education/training issue in Morocco is the very low level of internal efficiency in primary education. Dropout and repeater rates are high at all levels of the formal school system, but are particularly high at the primary level. only 24% of students complete the five-year primary 7 cycle in five years; 21% drop out before the fifth year, and of those students who remain, most repeat at least two classes before completing primary school. The average number of years of instruction required for each graduate of the five-year primary cycle is 8.6 years. The highest repetition occurs at the fifth primary year, which fully 50% of students repeat. Such high dropout and repeater rates suggest a serious waste of resources at whatever level they occur, but they are especially troubling in primary education because they suggest that students are failing to master the basic literacy and math skills which primary education is designed to impart. If primary education fails at providing these basic skills, it fails altogether. Moreover, the high dropout and repeater rates effectively limit access to primary education at each grade. Because each repeating student displaces a potential new student, the current primary school enrollment ratio of 75% could in principle be increased to 100% with no increase in facilities or teaching staff by eliminating repetition of primary school classes. 1.23 The high dropout rates in primary school reflect the importance attached by parents, particularly in rural areas, to children's work at home. Children are frequently not sent to school or are withdrawn from school by their parents to tend livestock, to help with agricultural work, or to participate in other household tasks. Cultural factors also play an important role in the high dropout rates for girls toward the end of primary school. If parents start their daughters in school, they often stop sending them to school at the age of puberty unless separate classes with female instructors are available for girl students. High dropout rates at the end of primary school are attributable principally to the limited number of places in secondary school, which restrict entry to the students who score the highest on the test administered at the end of the fifth primary year. High repeater rates for the fifth primary class and even fcr earlier classes result largely from parents' holding their children back so as to give them the best possible chance of performing well on the test. 1.24 The Government acknowledges the problem of internal inefficiency in primary schools and, in general terms, desirets to improve the situation. With Bank support, it is adopting measures to improve teaching equipment and modernize curricula for primary schools. Primary schools being provided under the third and fifth projects are also seen by the Government as a prototype for improving and extending the primary school network. These are appropriate and important measures for the Bank to support, and they should help to reduce primary school dropout and repeater rates. but further steps are necessary to bring about a major improvement in primary-school efficiency. Important further measures include the following; (a) Basic teaching equipment must be supplied to primary schools. Currently, schools lack even rulers, blackboard equipment, compasses, and dictionaries. These items are particularly important in developing students' appreciation ol- the practical applications of mathematical and scientific principles. Although basic teaching aids are to be distributed to 700 primary schools under the fifth education project, more needs to be done. In addition to basic 8 teaching aids for the 1,800 primary schools not supplied under the fifth project, teaching equipment needs to be provided for the new practical activities curriculum which the Government plans to introduce into schools not covered by the third and fifth projects. (b) Promotion from one primary school class to the next needs to be made semi-automatic, with careful attention being given to students' learning progress along the way. If significant numbers of students fail to learn at an acceptable rate, the appropriate response is to improve pedagogical methods rather than to require students to repeat classes. As currently used, student exams serve as tools both for certifying acquired skills and for selecting students for available places at the next level of education. The number of places at the next level tends to determine the threshold for passing examinations. Success in passing thus varies with the availability of places at the next level of schooling. Examinations should be used during primary school as a diagnostic tool to judge the effectiveness of teaching methods and the performance of students in reading comprehension, math skills, and other areas. Certification should be given at the end of the primary cycle as evidence of the student's having acquired at least the minimum acceptable set of primary school skills. A separate examination should then be used to select students for entry into secondary education. The same procedure should apply at the end of secondary schooling. (c) Teacher training and retraining should continue to be improved so that empirical learning will replace memorization and rote learning. Although equipment for demonstrations and experiments is important for this pedagogical reorientation, the most important part is teacher training and, especially, retraining in order to instruct teachers in the method and convince them of its utility. (d) Pedagogical research needs to be strengthened as an instrument of improved educational efficiency. The National Pedagogical Institute (IPN) would be the appropriate institution to carry out research on the causes of inefficiency in primary schooling and other levels of education. The IPN could and should play a vital role both in developing and assessing new teaching and teacher training programs and curricula, and in assessing the pedagogical effects of cost reduction measures such as double shifting, classroom rotation, and modifications in classroom size and required teaching hours. (e) Options for primary school completers, including primary school students who may not continue in the formal school system, need to be improved in order to reduce the fear of failure by parents and students. Only a third of the primary school students who fail to progress to secondary school are able to find places in vocational training. In the absence of substantial on-the-job training capacity, the rest are excluded from obtaining skills that would equip them to play a productive role in the economy. In order to 9 improve school efficiency and expand skill training in the context of an increasingly serious fiscal constraint, Morocco should adopt a decisive reorientation of education and training resources in favor of improved primary school instruction, expanded lower-secondary cycle school capacity, and expanded skill training for school leavers. An appropriate format for such a reorientation would be a reform of education and training similar to the reform adopted in several other countries in the region--consisting of the adoption of an eight or nine-year compulsory basic schooling program which is terminal for most students, followed by an expanded vocational training program designed to acconmodate most basic education graduates, and a strict limitation of studies beyond basic schooling, particularly for general studies. Given its capacities and constraints, Morocco should seriously consider developing such a system, perhaps in the form of the eight-year basic education system proposed in the draft 1978-82 Plan. Moderating the Growth of Higher Education 1.25 Higher education has expanded more rapidly than any other level of education and training during the past decade. Between 1973 and 1980 alone, enrollments in higher education in Morocco tripled. The number of Moroccan university students abroad on government fellowships also increased rapidly--by 174% between 1977 and 1979 alone. Although university enrollments are programmed to grow more slowly in the future, they are nonetheless expected to increase almost twice as fast (14% per year) as primary and secondary enrollments (8% a year) during the 1981-85 Plan. 1.26 The rapid growth of higher education may be excessive, both in terms of labor market demands, and of equity considerations. First, the overall demand for university trained manpower in certain areas of specialization appears to be less than the number of students currently enrolled in university courses. Although data on specific manpower needs for university specializations are lacking, information from several sources suggests that universities are already producing an oversupply of graduates in liberal arts and law studies, which together account for over 75% of university enrollments. In the past, a large share of liberal arts graduates entered government service either as civil servants in the administration or as secondary school teachers. However, most existing civil service positions are staffed with recent graduates who are likely to remain in their jobs for at least a decade, and, given the current fiscal situation, it is unlikely that many new positions will be created in the foreseeable future. At the same time, the Government's new system of teacher training colleges (Ecoles Normales Superieures) is taking over from the universities a major share of the responsibility for training secondary school teachers. Thus, the demand for liberal arts university graduates as secondary school teachers is also shrinking. University graduates in science and math specializations have better employment prospects than do liberal arts graduates, but even here it appears that the market for graduates may be nearing saturation.!' There is also a clear need to improve the internal efficiency of university programs in 10 science and math. Fully 70% of university science students drop out from or repeat their first year of classes, a problem which the fourth project is attempting to reduce by improving science and math training for university-bound secondary students. 1.27 The rapid expansion of higher education is also excessive in terms of an equitable distribution of educational opportunity. The recurrent costs of university education per unit are 12 times higher than for primary education. Each additional university enrollment displaces 12 potential additional primary school students. Although this cost ratio is not unusually high by comparison with other countries, it does indicate the high cost of university education in terms of foregone primary school expansion and improvement: comparative data on enrollment and per capita income indicate that the proportion of children enrolled in primary schools in Morocco is below the average for countries at Morocco's level of development. It would appear, therefore, that the amounts spent on higher education should be moderated, while the share of education expenditures allocated to primary education should be increased. 1.28 The Government is beginning to be aware of the problem of growing expenditures on higher education, and the need for policies to restrain them. An initial step in this direction was taken in July 1982, when the King announced that scholarships would henceforth no longer be automatically awarded to university students but would instead be allocated on the basis of family need. To improve efficiency in higher education, the Government should consider several reforms: (a) the adoption of a coordinated admission program of competitive entry to university courses in order to reduce failure and dropout rates during the first year of studies; (b) the adoption of a credit-hour system with inter-departmental recognition of credit units in order to reduce redundancy of course offerings; and (c) the adoption of short courses for specializations not requiring a full four or five-year university course. The more difficult problem of limiting the growth of higher education in the future should be confronted through a combination of measures, including the implementation of the means test announced by the King in July 1982, the reduction or suspension of fellowships to students in liberal arts specializations, and imposition of admission criteria whose strictness would vary by specialization of studies according to the nation's need for the specialization in question. Expanding Skill Training 1.29 Significant progress in expanding the training of technicians and engineers during the past five years has been achieved at the cost of neglecting vocational training. Unfortunately, the scarcity of recent manpower data in Morocco makes it impossible to document the demand for skills in each occupation and sector of activity. The MOP's on-going study on 1/ See Part V for discussion of the recent expansion of high-level engineering and technician training programs which has substantially met the current demand for these skills. 11 education, training, and employment should provide more up-to-date information on manpower demand, but until data from that study and from the 1982 census are available, it is necessary to rely on more fragmentary information to judge whether enough skilled and semi-skilled workers are being produced. The information which exists suggests that the training capacity for skilled and semi-skilled workers is seriously deficient. The total training capacity for skilled and semi-skilled workers in 1980/81 wias just 7,000. In contrast, middle-level technician programs in upper-secondary schools enrolled more than 10,000 students during the 1980/81 school year, and this training capacity is being doubled by the 11 technical lycees being constructed under the fourth education project. Moreover, more than 10,000 specialized technicians are currently in training in the programs of sectoral ministries. International comparisons of labor-force skill structure indicate that a normal ratio of technicians to skiLled and semi-skilled workers is about one to four. This comparison suggests that the existing capacil:y for training skilled and semi-skilled workers in Morocco is seriously short of needs. 1.30 The vocational training system is aLso seriously deficient in relation to the social demand for training school leavers. Vocational training should be available to provide skilL training to students who leave the formal school system before completing secondary school. Currently, it is able to accommodate only 37% of these school leavers. 1.31 Vocational training capacity needs i:o be substantially expanded to more adequately meet the social and economic demand for skilled and semi-skilled worker training. This expansioni should be carried out through additions to the capacity of the vocational training programs currently in operation, and it should rely most heavily on expansion of the apprenticeship training, in-service training and pre-service training programs administered by the National Office of Vocational Training--the Office. Apprenticeship training is now offered in limited and ad ho': programs in the ministries of Social Welfare, Public Works, Commerce, Artisanat and Youth and Sports, as well as the Office. The programs should be expanded, coordinated, and equipped with a uniform system of certification in order to improve their usefulness to private employers. The Office program is intended to provide for the training needs of the private sector; revenues for its recurrent budget are raised through a training levy imposed on private-sector employers. The training offered in the Office's pre-service vocational training programs is of high quality, and the demand for the programs by applicants greatly exceeds their current capacity. To facilitate the rapid expansion of the Office's vocational training capacity, consideration should be given to raising funds for course expansion through such measures as increasing the amount of the training levy paid by employers, or instituting service contracts for specific training programs carried out by the Office at the request of private-sector and public-sector clients. 1.32 This expansion of vocational training should be carried out in the context of improved coordination of training efforts among the various ministries involved in training. Improved coordination is necessary to assure coherence of vocational training, to eliminate redundancy, to fill lacunae, 12 and perhaps most importantly, to develop and implement a trade testing and certification service in order to help employers judge the competence of job candidates. The Government in 1978 established a Permanent Commission of Vocational Training and charged it with the task of coordinating vocational training efforts. The Commission has made little tangible progress in that task. In order to be more effective, it needs to be strengthened-- particularly by being equipped with an effective secretariat which would provide serious technical inputs to the Commission's deliberations and would. develop specific proposals for the implementing ministries. Content and Coverage of Agricultural Training 1.33 Although there are some shortages of agricultural training capacity in Morocco, the main issues in agricultural training are qualitative rather than quantitative. Issues of content and coverage of agricultural training are of particular importance. The current Plan proposes a significant expansion of the agricultural training network of the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform (MARA) by 1985, including a four-fold expansion of its farmer training center network (CRAFAs). Yet many of MARA's existing farmer training facilities are having difficulty attracting students and are operating far below capacity. Rather than embarking on a major expansion of MARA's training facilities, the Government should focus in the short term upon improving the content and coverage of agricultural training provided in existing facilities. An exception is the need for new technician training and research facilities for rainfed areas. 1.34 This should involve, first, the strengthening of technician training in rainfed agriculture and grazing, both in terms of curricula and location of facilities. Past training efforts were focused almost exclusively on agriculture in irrigated areas or in areas with abundant rainfall. Most technician training schools, for example, were located in irrigated areas or areas of ample rain fall. To improve agricultural yields and distribution of income in rural areas, the Government now proposes to address the neglected training needs in areas of moderate or sparse rainfall. A principal instrument of this reorientation is the planned creation of five regional technician training and research centers for the marginal agricultural areas of the country. Execution of this program should be treated as a priority activity, but efforts should be made to assure that the existing and new centers are more practically oriented and effective than the existing technician schools in irrigated areas, many of which do not carry out research and extension activities. 1.35 Second, the training and recycling of extension workers needs to be strengthened, both in quality and quantity. This can be accomplished using existing MARA facilities, including the National Center for Agricultural Extension Training and Research (CNERV) which was recently completed under the third education project, but it will necessitate closer cooperation between MARA's directorates responsible for agricultural training and research on the one hand, and agricultural extension and agricultural reform on the other. An 13 important measure is to clarify the respective responsibilities of the Directorate of Education and Research and the Directorate of Extension and Agricultural Reform for extension worker training and in-service upgrading. 1.36 The performance of the nine existing farmer training centers (CRAFAs) needs to be improved and their level of utilization increased before the Government proceeds with its plan of building 25 additional centers. The existing centers face very serious problems, including insufficient numbers and low quality (poor preparation and lack of motivation) of applicants, a high rate of unemployment among graduates, and lack of focus in the two-month training courses which the centers offer. Ia view of the seriousness of these problems, the basic concept of the centers should be reviewed to see whether their short resident courses for young people in agricultural techniques are valid. If not, consideration should be given to conversion of some of the centers to serve the functions of the proposed regional technician training and research centers mentioned above. Expenditure Reductions 1.37 The worsening fiscal situation calls for widespread expenditure reductions by the Government, both in terms Df cancelling or postponing all but the highest priority investment projects, and of economizing on recurrent expenditures. A number of recommendations have been made above for curtailing the expansion of certain education and training programs--recommendations which have obvious implications for investment priorities. To the extent that new investments can be justified, these should be directed principally to improving the quality and capacity of primary and lower-cycle secondary schooling, scientific and technical education, technician training, and skill training outside the formal school system.l/ In addition to the economies which can be achieved by deferring unjustified new investments, numerous measures could be and should be taken to economize on recurrent expenditures in education and training programs. These measures include, in approximate order of importance, the following: 1/ In the short and medium term, actions to curtail investments should focus on deferral of items proposed in the current Five-Year Development Plan, detailed recommendations for which are being developed in the Bank's current Public Investment Review exercise. In the longer term, action should focus on encouraging the efficiency of investment--through such measures as reviewing and reducing as appropriate space and cost norms for school construction. In addition, current procedures for financing and contracting school construction should be examined in order to determine whether their modification could reduce unit costs without unduly sacrificing school quality. An appropriate locus for these activities would be the MOE's recently created cellule d'architecture, or architecture unit. 14 (a) The practice of widespread subsidies to higher education should be sharply reduced in scale, and used as an instrument of channelling students into specializations identified by the Government as priority national needs. Student stipends and fellowships for study abroad should be sharply reduced or suspended altogether for students in literature, arts, and possibly social science specializations. Public resistance to this measure might be eased by introducing the change gradually--for example, by initiaily making fellowship eligibility subject to family income and academic performance criteria, or by substituting loans for fellowships. Consideration should also be given to imposing fees for courses and, especially, for board and lodging in student dormitories. (b) Teaching staff at all levels of the formal school system, particularly at the secondary and university level, should be more fully utilized. Currently, required teaching hours per week range from 30 in primary schools to 18 and 16 in lower and upper-cycle secondary to as little as 8 hours in university. This schedule of required teaching hours is uniform throughout the country, and is designed to allow teachers the time to prepare adequately for their classes. But the amount of time reserved for course preparation in most cases significantly exceeds the amount of time actually needed and used for course preparation. Required teaching hours should be increased by an amount which depends in each case on the number of course preparations required by a teacher's work program, and a realistic assessment of the amount of time actually required for course preparation. (c) The practice of paying presalaires, full teachers' salaries, to students in the ENS teacher training colleges should be modified to reduce the burden on recurrent expenditures as well as the effective discrimination in favor of ENS students via a vis university students. The general level of presalaires should be reduced. In view of the high cost of the presalaires and the extremely high dropout rates prevailing in the schools--50% at the end of the first year--consideration should also be given to requiring students who do not complete the courses and eventually teach in MOE schools to repay part or all of the salary/fellowship amounts which they have received. This practice would not only economize on the Government's recurrent expenditures, but would also provide a stronger incentive for students to successfully complete the ENS training program and teach in MOE schools. (d) Consideration should be given to the prospects for accommodating more students in existing primary schools through the extension of the double-shift system. In doing so, however, the Government should pay close attention to the likely impact of this practice on teaching effectiveness. Teaching effectiveness is likely to suffer if the shift system results in classroom sessions which are too short to focus students' attention, or if it imposes an excessive burden on 15 teaching staff. The system currently in operation in a number of primary schools, consisting of two discontinuous two-hour sessions for each of two student groups, appears to unnecessarily waste students' time and may provide less effective instruction than would be provided by two back-to-back, four-hour sessions.