This is the perfect illustration of the high solicitude that the Sovereign continues to show towards education professionals, men and women, and the national education system. This royal gesture also reflects the desire of H.M. the King to promote and rehabilitate the education system so that it allows young people to sharpen their talents, enhance their creativity, fulfil their citizenship obligations and contribute to the Kingdom's overall development process. This rehabilitation, desired by H.M. King Mohammed VI, may God assist Him, was concretised on 16 July, through the installation of the Higher Council for Education, Training and Scientific Research, which is a constitutional body responsible for implementing educational reform by valuing achievements, correcting dysfunctions and building a school that meets the expectations and ambitions of Moroccans. It is within the framework of these reform and rehabilitation efforts that the Royal Initiative "One Million Schoolbags", launched by the Sovereign in 2008, also falls. Renewed every year since its launch, this operation aims to give a strong impetus to the generalisation of basic education and the affirmation of its compulsory nature, to guarantee equal opportunities in education and to fight against the phenomenon of school dropouts. This initiative, which mobilises investments of around 360 million dirhams this year, concerns all the provinces and prefectures of the Kingdom and benefits primary and middle school pupils, with priority given to rural areas (63%). It is part of a solidarity-based approach, focused on consolidating the social dimension of the profound reforms underway in several key sectors that directly affect the daily lives of citizens. The "One Million Schoolbags" initiative is part of the national strategy for social support for school children and their families, endowed this year with a budget of more than 2.113 billion dirhams. This strategy also includes a "Tayssir" financial support programme (778 million DH), as well as programmes to improve canteen and boarding school services (941 million DH) and school transport (34 million DH). On this occasion, H.M. the King visited classrooms at the "Omar Ibn Al Khattab" school, which underwent upgrading work in 2010, carried out as part of a partnership between the Department of National Education, the National Initiative for Human Development, the urban commune of M'diq and the school's parents' association. The Sovereign then proceeded to the symbolic handover of schoolbags and textbooks to ten pupils from the Omar Ibn Al Khattab school (M'diq-Fnideq prefecture) and ten pupils from the Moaad Ibn Jabal middle school in the rural commune of Jbel Lahbib (Tétouan province). H.M. King Mohammed VI, may God assist Him, then posed for a souvenir photo with the teachers and administrative staff of the "Omar Ibn Al Khattab" school.