DR ‹ › Preschool education in Morocco has seen a marked improvement in access between 2015 and 2025, with enrollment rates for children aged 4 to 5 rising from 50.2% to 70.4%, said Hicham Ait Mansour, Director of the National Evaluation Authority under the Higher Council for Education, Training and Scientific Research (CSEFRS), on Thursday in Rabat. Since the launch of the Preschool Development and Generalization Program (2018–2028), notable progress has been recorded in rural areas, where enrollment increased from 36.3% to 75.6%, surpassing urban rates, Ait Mansour noted while presenting the Preschool Education Evaluation Report in Morocco (2024–2025). Over the same period, the number of public preschool units rose sharply from 6,185 to 23,182 between 2018–2019 and 2024–2025, while non-structured units declined significantly, from 18,882 to 4,946. At the same time, the public budget allocated to preschool education more than doubled, increasing from 1.13 billion dirhams to nearly 3 billion dirhams between 2019 and 2025, with spending gradually shifting from capital investment toward operational costs. Initiated by the National Evaluation Authority within the CSEFRS, and conducted in partnership with UNICEF, the evaluation focuses on the overall state of preschool education in Morocco. It assesses the quality of learning environments, reception conditions, and pedagogical practices. The study also examines the development of socio-emotional and cognitive skills, as well as executive functions, acquired by children at the end of the preschool cycle. Despite the progress recorded, the report identifies persistent challenges, notably disparities between rural and urban areas in terms of learning quality, infrastructure and sanitary facilities, governance and financing, as well as the harmonization and effective implementation of quality standards. The evaluation covered 180 preschool units, public, private, partnership-based, and non-structured, targeting 871 children, 180 educators, 180 institution managers, 624 parents, and included 180 classroom observation sessions.
