The World Bank Morocco Education Support Program (P167619) Program Information Documents (PID) Appraisal Stage | Date Prepared/Updated: 30-May-2019 | Report No: 137575 Apr 19, 2019 Page 1 of 10 The World Bank Morocco Education Support Program (P167619) BASIC INFORMATION OPS_TABLE_BASIC_DATA A. Basic Program Data Country Project ID Program Name Parent Project ID (if any) Morocco P167619 Education Support Program Region Estimated Appraisal Date Estimated Board Date Practice Area (Lead) MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH 19-Mar-2019 20-Jun-2019 Education AFRICA Financing Instrument Borrower(s) Implementing Agency Program-for-Results Financing Kingdom of Morocco Ministry of Education, Minister of Economy and Finance Proposed Program Development Objective(s) To establish an enabling environment for quality Early Childhood Education service delivery, support improved teaching practices in primary and secondary education, and strengthen management capacity and accountability along the education service delivery chain in the Program Areas. COST & FINANCING SUMMARY (USD Millions) Government program Cost 1,150.00 Total Operation Cost 500.00 Total Program Cost 500.00 Total Financing 500.00 Financing Gap 0.00 FINANCING (USD Millions) Total World Bank Group Financing 500.00 World Bank Lending 500.00 Apr 19, 2019 Page 2 of 10 The World Bank Morocco Education Support Program (P167619) A. Introduction and Context Country Context After two decades of notable progress in reducing poverty and boosting shared prosperity, Morocco is at a crossroad in its development path. Morocco has made significant social and economic progress since 2000, thanks to political stability, large public investments and political, institutional, and sector reforms. Accelerated economic growth led to the eradication of extreme poverty, a sharp decline in the national poverty rate, 1 increased life expectancy, greater access to basic public services (including universal access to primary education), and significant public infrastructure development. Despite these achievements, heightened aspirations by Moroccans, especially youth, remain unmet. Economic growth has slowed in recent years, job creation remains insufficient resulting in a large inactive population, and the labor force participation rate is low. Pockets of poverty remain across the country and territorial disparities reflect deep social and economic inequalities. Morocco’s development risks slowing down, unless it can overcome structural impediments to growth and boost job creation through private-sector- led growth and accelerated productivity and competitiveness gains. For Morocco to propel toward a trajectory of faster growth and improved opportunities for all, achieving stronger human capital outcomes will be key. Human capital in Morocco is estimated to contribute 41 percent to wealth per capita, a level substantially lower than in countries with a similar level of development.2 Indeed, weak human capital outcomes are hindering productivity— with a Human Capital Index (HCI)3 of 0.5, Moroccans born today will only reach fifty percent of their productivity potential. Large inequalities in early childhood outcomes, including a high level of stunting in rural areas, and low learning outcomes contribute to hampered human capital accumulation. For most women and youth, weaknesses in human capital formation are compounded by the existing limitations on returns to human capital in the labor market. Youth unemployment is high, averaging 22 percent for men and 27 percent for women, and, while women tend to score better on the HCI, their economic participation remains severely constrained.4 Morocco’s future social and economic trajectory is therefore conditioned on its ability to accelerate progress in human capital accumulation and distribution. Sectoral and Institutional Context The story of education in Morocco over the last two decades is that of a rapid expansion resulting in dramatic improvements in access to education for most children.5 In the early 2000s, Morocco’s 1 With an average economic growth rate of 4.2 percent during the period 2007-2015, poverty has reduced significantly (from 15.3 percent in 2001 to 4.8 percent in 2014). Life expectancy increased from 68.7 to 75.8 between 2010 and 2016. 2 Lange, Glenn-Marie, Quentin Wodon, and Kevin Carey. 2018. The Changing Wealth of Nations 2018: Building a Sustainable Future. World Bank, Washington, DC. 3 The Human Capital Index measures the amount of human capital that the average child born in 2018 is expected to achieve and reflects information from five education and health indicators: probability of survival to age five, expected years of schooling, harmonized test scores as a measure of quality of learning, adult survival rate, and proportion of children who are not stunted. 4 The female labor force participation (as a percentage of total labor force participation) is 27 percent in Morocco. Source: The World Bank, World Development Indicators (2018). Labor Force Participation Rate (percent of female population ages 15-64). Retrieved from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.ACTI.FE.ZS 5 This section is based in the Statistical Yearbooks published by the Ministry of Education. (MOE) Apr 19, 2019 Page 3 of 10 The World Bank Morocco Education Support Program (P167619) education outcomes were lower than in most developing countries: the adjusted net enrollment rate6 was 76 percent in primary education, gender inequalities were pervasive (the gender parity index was 0.85 and 0.77 in primary and secondary education, respectively), 1.2 million primary-school-aged children were out of school, and only 30 percent of women were considered literate. In less than 20 years, the country has achieved remarkable progress in reaching universal access for girls and boys (see Figure 1). Thousands of schools were built, millions of textbooks and other learning materials were distributed, and a considerable number of teachers were trained and hired. This remarkable expansion was achieved thanks to strong and consistent political commitment, backed by large public investments, since 2000. Over the last twenty years, continuous political commitment to education has been provided at the highest level of the state. King Mohammed VI reaffirms regularly the urgency to reform the education system so that it can respond to youth aspirations and the country’s development needs. A series of strategic documents has guided the development of the sector, the most recent one being the 2015–2030 Education Sector Vision, developed with all relevant stakeholders.7 Commitment to education translated into substantial public funding for the sector. Between 2001 and 2015, the Government of Morocco (GOM) allocated, on average, about 30.4 percent of its total budget—6.4 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) — to education and training. Today, the Moroccan education system operates with an annual budget of MAD 50.38 billion (US$5 billion) a year, about 25 percent of total public expenditure and 5 percent of GDP. However, the transformation of the education system remains incomplete: gender and location-based inequalities are substantial and learning outcomes are stubbornly low. Inequality of opportunity starts early: in 2017, 50 percent of the 4-5-year old attended preprimary education and there was a 24- percentage point difference between rural and urban areas (36 vs. 60 percent). Only 26.4 percent of rural girls and 44.6 percent of rural boys attended preprimary education. Inequality in access to primary education has reduced as a result of the government’s massive investments. However, a gap reappears again at the lower secondary level with a 38-point difference in the net enrollment rate in rural compared to urban areas (37 vs. 75 percent in 2017). The Government’s efforts to improve access to education are hampered by major retention issues, with 2.28 million children dropping out from primary and lower-secondary schools between 2008 and 20179. A panel survey by the Observatoire National de Développement Humain (ONDH)10 in 2012 found that the main reasons mentioned for school dropouts are “child does not like the school (31.9 percent) followed by “the household is far from school” (13.6 percent). Moreover, results of recent international and national student learning assessments show that Morocco ranks among the bottom three countries (TIMSS 2015, PIRLS 2016) and suggest that an average student does not reach the country’s benchmarks in mathematics, science, or basic languages at any of the key cycles of education (PNEA 2008, 2016; SDI 2016). Learning assessments also reveal some gender-based differences. In TIMSS 2015, the average score for fourth grade science students is 10 points higher for girls compared to boys. The gap reduces to 7 point difference in favor of girls in 6 The adjusted net enrolment rate is the number of students of the official primary school age group who are enrolled in primary or secondary education, as a percentage of the corresponding population. 7 The National Education and Training Charter (CNEF) was adopted in 1999 and set ambitious goals particularly in terms of increasing access to education at all levels. In 2008, a National Education Emergency Plan (PUEN) was launched to accelerate progress. A strategic Vision for the sector was developed and adopted in 2015 (ESV15-30) which introduced a significant shift toward enhanced quality, and that prioritized improved learning outcomes. 8 Finance Law 2019. 9 Based on the Education Statistics (2019-2017 Indicateurs de l’éducation). Those enrolled in vocational and technical education tracks are not included. 10 Enquête panel des ménages 2012 – Rapport des premiers résultats – ONDH 2014. Apr 19, 2019 Page 4 of 10 The World Bank Morocco Education Support Program (P167619) grade eight. PIRLS 2016 results show that girls in the fourth grade scored 372 points in reading skills, while boys are almost 30 points behind at 344 points. For the education system to be able to produce stronger learning outcomes, it needs to overcome two key challenges: a lack of readiness to learn and a lack of preparedness to teach. Only a few Moroccan children are exposed to early stimulation and early learning, thus most are not prepared to learn when they enter primary school. Access to preprimary education is limited and the quality of existing preprimary services is inconsistent, with multiple providers, lack of coordination and supervision across various pedagogical models, and unequal standards of quality. The teaching and learning process is also undermined by poor teacher preparation and lack of professional development support. Teachers enter the profession without adequate practical training and receive insufficient support. In the absence of prepared learners and equipped and motivated teachers, the Moroccan education system currently lacks the most fundamental ingredients of learning. Despite the Government’s willingness to reform and considerable public investments, implementation challenges hamper progress. While the education sector benefits from high-level commitment and substantial public funding, learning outcomes remain weaker than expected. Various factors explain this disconnect, including limited incentives for reforms, lack of continuity in implementing education reforms, weak coordination and cooperation among key stakeholders, lack of prioritization and weak capacity for implementation. The implementation gap can partly be traced back to challenges in coordination and cooperation among key stakeholders at the central and subnational levels. Coordination is challenged by the mismatch between the high level of responsibilities devolved to subnational entities and their low capacity in terms of administrative and financial management. Rapid and sustainable progress will be possible only if the education system undergoes a deep transformation of its governance principles, to foster accountability along the service delivery chain and promotes a culture of learning and adaptability in the implementation of education reforms. The organizational structure of the Ministry of Education (MOE) was designed around the logistics of expanding access—a structure which has become unfit to support today’s goals of improved quality and enhanced learning. For the past twenty years, the Moroccan education system has been structured to meet the logistical needs required to expand enrollment and achieve universal access to primary education, which it did successfully. However, it has shown little effectiveness in promoting student learning. To improve student learning, the education system needs to shift its focus from the logistics to the quality of service delivery, through the promotion of experimental, adaptive, evidence-based, and locally tailored approaches. Improving learning in Morocco requires not only resources, but most importantly a deep shift in how the education system operates. Systems that have successfully undergone such transformation combine measures to strengthen the capability, autonomy, and accountability of those managing the various processes involved in delivering learning, redefining the way stakeholders interact with each other, and giving more prominence to key actors in the learning process—namely, teachers. PforR Program Scope The proposed Program for Results is anchored in the Government’s Education Strategic Vision 2015 - 2030 Pour une école de l’équité, de la qualité et de la promotion (ESV 15-30) and the MOE’s performance Plan 2019-2021. The Program will support the Government in translating its vision into Apr 19, 2019 Page 5 of 10 The World Bank Morocco Education Support Program (P167619) concrete outcomes by focusing on the key elements and realistic targets that will transform the education system, ensuring a robust monitoring and strong implementation support. The results areas (RA) of the Program are embedded within the government program themes pertaining to the quality of preprimary and basic education, as well as to the successful achievement of the decentralization process. The results areas fall under the two main programs of the Performance Plan, namely Program 1: steering, governance and leadership strengthening, and Program 2: compulsory education ensuring equity and quality. B. Proposed Program Development Objective(s) The Program Development Objective (PDO) is to establish an enabling environment for quality Early Childhood Education service delivery, support improved teaching practices in primary and secondary education, and strengthen management capacity and accountability along the education service delivery chain in the Program Areas. An enabling environment for quality ECE service delivery in the Moroccan context is defined through the following elements: (i) educators with relevant skills and qualifications to teach young children, (ii) a framework defining the quality standards and the tools available to measure the quality of preschool environment according to this framework, and (iii) adequate capacity to manage the expansion of ECE at central and local levels. These critical elements contribute to anchor quality standards and allow for continuous improvement of preschool service provision in the country and as such make the environment conducive to quality ECE. Improved teaching practices means that teachers' actions, strategies, attitudes and behaviors in the classroom with students are implemented in a way which increases student learning outcomes. Teaching practices include, among others, classroom discussions, socio-emotional development, classroom culture, feedback and assessment. These elements can be measured with data collection and analysis tools such as TEACH. Management capacity is defined as the ability of various administrative levels (AREFs, Provincial Directorates and schools) to plan, implement and adjust work programs that facilitate the achievement of education results. Accountability is defined as the relationship between means, responsibilities and results, captured here through the implementation of performance contracts between different levels of the education administration. To achieve those objectives, the Program will support three result areas (RA). • RA 1 focuses on the establishment of an enabling environment for quality Early Childhood Education service delivery. The recent launching of a program to universalize preprimary education for children age 4 and 5 by 2027 is a strong signal of the country’s commitment to ensure equal access to preschool. Mere access to ECE, however, is not a guarantee that children will develop the foundational skills needed to succeed in school. The current ECE landscape in Morocco is missing key features that support the delivery of quality ECE services, including the implementation of quality standards, a sufficient number of educators and staff with relevant ECE knowledge and skills and management capacity to ensure satisfactory implementation of this large-scale reform. The PforR will incentivize investments in the framework, systems, Apr 19, 2019 Page 6 of 10 The World Bank Morocco Education Support Program (P167619) capacities and tools for quality preprimary education to ensure that efforts to expand are coupled with quality of provision and have a tangible and sustainable impact on learning. • RA 2 focuses on teacher training, both initial training and in-service training. The ESV15-30 places a great emphasis on strengthening the teacher profession, as a starting point for quality improvement. In that respect, the MOE launched in September 2018 a revamping of teachers’ pre-service modalities, and aspire to restructure in-service training, and the implementation of a new teacher professional development model, including through digital learning tools. • RA 3 focuses on strengthening the management capacity and accountability along the education service delivery chain. While AREFs oversee a significant share of education spending (nearly 95 percent), recent reports pointed out that they have limited management capacity due to a lack of qualified accounting, financial management and procurement staff. This is impacting negatively on AREFs capacity to deliver results. The Program will focus on strengthening financial and human resources management capabilities through the introduction of performance contracts. At school level, the Program will establish the necessary conditions to support school principals not only to develop the school improvement plan in a participatory approach, but also to implement them. C. Environmental and Social Effects Given the nature of the program’s activities, which are meant to give equal access to quality preschool education and develop citizen participation and accountability, the Program is expected to generate positive social impacts, including notably in: i) allowing children, particularly girls and the most vulnerable children to have equal access to quality preschool and early education; ii) narrowing socioeconomic and geographical disparities, particularly in rural areas, remote locations, semi-urban areas, and regions particularly lacking in educational infrastructures. The Program will considerably improve the quality of knowledge and learning among young children, thereby also contributing to enhanced early-childhood development, a resulting reduction in grade repetition and dropout rates, establishing a solid basis for skills development that offers long-term potential for improvements in technical and technological skills, and consequently higher graduation rates and greater employability among the young boys and girls. In addition, the Program will boost the effectiveness and governance of the education system at central and local levels in view to ensure schools' responsiveness and accountability to parents and local communities. Adverse environmental and social risks stemming from the Program-supported activities are anticipated to be negligible to low. There are no social and environmental risks associated with land acquisitions since the Program will not finance classroom or school renovation or construction work, and thus will not cause physical or economic displacement of any population. Furthermore, the government program which aims at providing equitable access to universal preschool education does not involve acquisition of private land since classroom renovation or construction will be done in existing public schools and will primarily be carried out as part of the Initiative Nationale pour le Développement Humain (INDH). Many environmental and social management tools and procedures were established within the framework of the World Bank-financed PforR supporting INDH phase two and have been subject to regular monitoring, including practical guide on good environmental and social practices, assessment and monitoring tools, appointment and training environmental and social focal points in all Apr 19, 2019 Page 7 of 10 The World Bank Morocco Education Support Program (P167619) provinces and prefectures to ensure coordination, follow up, monitoring and reporting of social and environmental risks and mitigation measures, as well as ESSA plan of actions. A very low and temporary impact on environment is related to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions due to an increase in travel to training sites, which will be mitigated by using shared transport to training sites. Communities and individuals who believe that they are adversely affected because of a Bank supported PforR operation, as defined by the applicable policy and procedures, may submit complaints to the existing program grievance redress mechanism or the WB’s Grievance Redress Service (GRS). The GRS ensures that complaints received are promptly reviewed to address pertinent concerns. Affected communities and individuals may submit their complaint to the WB’s independent Inspection Panel which determines whether harm occurred, or could occur, because of WB non-compliance with its policies and procedures. Complaints may be submitted at any time after concerns have been brought directly to the World Bank's attention, and Bank Management has been given an opportunity to respond. For information on how to submit complaints to the World Bank’s corporate Grievance Redress Service (GRS), please visit http://www.worldbank.org/GRS. For information on how to submit complaints to the World Bank Inspection Panel, please visit www.inspectionpanel.org. Morocco has a number of constitutional independent institutions responsible for grievance handling and resolution, which have the power of self-referral, including: the National Council for Human Rights and its regional commissions, which receive complaints, initiate legal proceedings in case of violations of all forms of human rights violations; The Ombudsman and its regional representations which receive complaints related to public administrations; The National Body for Probity, Prevention and Fight against Corruption whose mission is, inter alia, to monitor the implementation of policies to prevent and combat corruption and to receive and process complaints from citizens. The World Bank’s GRS mechanism does not affect the efficiency of the Moroccan complaints and resolution system. D. Financing Elements that will be supported under the Program amount to US$1,150 million over a five-year implementation period (2019-2023). Table 1. Program Expenditure Framework (US$, million) 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Total PforR Program Tayssir11 230 230 230 230 230 1,150 Remainder of ESV15- 4,764 5,089 5,207 5,207 5,207 25,887 30 11 Figures are based on the government commitment as reflected in the 2019 Budget Law and might be affected by the number of eligible children, which may vary slightly from one year to another. Apr 19, 2019 Page 8 of 10 The World Bank Morocco Education Support Program (P167619) . CONTACT POINT World Bank Name : Fadila Caillaud Designation : Program Leader Role : Team Leader(ADM Responsible) Telephone No : 5360+4241 / Email : fcaillaud@worldbank.org Name : Anne-Lucie Lefebvre Designation : Sr Public Sector Spec. Role : Team Leader Telephone No : 5360+4230 Email : alefebvre@worldbank.org Borrower/Client/Recipient Borrower : Kingdom of Morocco Contact : Title : Telephone No : Email : Implementing Agencies Implementing Ministry of Education Agency : Contact : Youssef Belqasmi Title : Secretary General Telephone No : 212537777303 Email : youssef.belqasmi@men.gov.ma Implementing Minister of Economy and Finance Agency : Deputy Director, Direction of Contact : Youssef Farhat Title : Budget, Ministry of Finance Telephone No : 212673995319 Email : Farhat@db.finances.gov.ma Apr 19, 2019 Page 9 of 10 The World Bank Morocco Education Support Program (P167619) FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20433 Telephone: (202) 473-1000 Web: http://www.worldbank.org/projects Apr 19, 2019 Page 10 of 10