In its latest issue from April 3 to 9, the Moroccan magazine AsIs is interested in French education in Morocco, “a system that goes off the rails†according to the title on the cover. An image generated by artificial intelligence shows a crowd of parents gathered in front of a building labeled “French school” and brandishing signs to protest against increases in school fees, the decline in the quality of education and to question the fate of families’ money, which would finance 60% of the system.
In all, it is estimated that 50,000 students are enrolled in the network of French educational establishments, and today their parents consider themselves treated like “cash cows†of a system managed by the Agency for French Education Abroad (AEFE). They essentially contest an increase in fees decided in December 2025, which triggered a “unprecedented mobilization†.
Concretely, in Morocco, families wishing to send their child to a French establishment already pay a first registration fee (DPI) of up to 30,000 dirhams (or approximately 2,756 euros), as well as annual registration fees. However, since the end of 2025, the AEFE has imposed a 4% increase in tuition fees and the establishment of an annual registration fee of 4,000 dirhams (or approximately 367 euros). According to As is, the combination of the two measures increases the costs by 14% per year for parents.
Miraculous surplus
If the AEFE highlights a significant deficit to justify the increase in fees, the parents’ associations wonder why suddenly, on March 11 (i.e. three months after the announcement of the said deficit), the AEFE reports a surplus of 3 million euros. “Is a sudden financial improvement of nearly 60 million euros between the deficit announced on December 18 and the accounts closed thirteen days later†, calculate TelQel.
“We are told that we are bankrupt, we increase our fees, and three months later we discover that the agency has recovered nearly 60 million [d'euros] shaking the sofa cushions… comments a parent of students in Rabat.
In Morocco, 44 establishments are approved by the French Ministry of National Education, in which 80% of students are Moroccan or Franco-Moroccan, and mainly from “economic and administrative elites of the kingdom, trained in the French mold, many of whom will continue their studies in France†, insists AsIs. And the weekly insists on the importance represented by these “relay of influence†of Paris in the Cherifian kingdom.
