Mustafa al-Sulaivani

Imilchil is one of the most difficult mountainous villages in Morocco, in terms of terrain and weather. Imilchil known to Moroccans and foreign tourists with its annual festival named "Isli and Tislit", which means the bride and groom, and it is a mass wedding. The village also popular with its cultural fame and another kind of reputation, resulted from problems experienced by the inhabitants of the region in access to basic services, including education.

 In this interview, the regional director of the Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training in this area, who sheds light on the education of children in toughest winter season since decades.

Mustafa al-Sulaivani, the regional director of the Ministry of National Education, explained, in an exclusive interview with Arabs Today, due to the climate peculiarities in this area, the regional directorate takes the precautionary and preventive measures annually. For instance, monitoring the status of the social institutions and educational institutions in the Region, to coincide with the cold waves and snow, to diagnose the situation.

In addition, providing intervention programs to face the cold waves, and forming regional committees to follow the status of educational institutions, especially in terms of supplies, heating, and keep track of the health situation.

The regional directorate concluded an annual deal to provide heating in educational institutions, at a cost between 700 and 800 thousand dirhams per year, al-Sulaivani said.

"It is expected to accelerate the pace of establishing this type of heating for the year 2017," he added.

 The number of beneficiaries of the scholarships for new entrants to preparatory education and secondary education in the last three years, doubled, where the total number of beneficiaries reached to 6574  granted student, with financial cost  estimated at 14 million dirhams, where the general benefit ranged between 87% and 100%, al-Sulaivani explained.

The number of beneficiaries of the school feeding at the primary stage reached 24 thousand pupils, at a cost of 3 million dirhams.

A partnership agreement held between the regional directorate, the region's employment, regional council and local groups, to provide additional funds to strengthen the financial of the school feeding with one million dirhams per year, for five years. It is worth mentioning that 44% of the directorate's budget, allocated for social support, he stated.