School in Morocco: the French schools, what they cost and the admission round that opens in January

Yes, your child can go to school in Morocco, and for most Dutch families that means one of the 44 French schools recognised by the French government. They have one admission round a year: you apply online between 5 January and 11 March, the result comes in April, and then you have 72 hours to confirm your place. Count on 30,000 dirhams in enrolment fees and, for a non-French child, some 50,000 to 61,000 dirhams in school fees a year. The trap is not the money but the calendar: whoever arrives in summer has missed that round.

Which schools are there?

The French network in Morocco is the second largest in the world: 44 schools recognised by the French Ministry of Education, with around 49,000 pupils, of whom almost 70 percent are Moroccan. All schools follow the French curriculum and teach Arabic on top. They come under three operators: the French agency AEFE, the OSUI and the Alliance israélite universelle, next to private schools under Moroccan law.

Spain has its own state schools there, under the Consejería de Educación of the Spanish embassy, with around 5,000 pupils. And Moroccan public education exists too, of course; on 7 September 2026 the ministry gave the official start of the 2026-2027 school year.

There is no full Dutch school: NederlandWereldwijd lists the countries that have one, and Morocco is not among them. What is possible is Dutch language and culture education after school or at a distance, through the network of the Stichting NOB.

How does admission to the French schools work?

Moment in the round for 2026-2027	Date or deadline
Online application, all levels	5 January to 11 March 2026
Interviews for petite section up to and including CP	end of January to end of March, mostly Wednesday and Friday afternoons
Result by email	Wednesday 8 April 2026
Offer of a school after the result	within 48 hours
Confirm on your personal page	within 72 hours, otherwise the admission lapses
First day of school	on the day of the rentrée; whoever does not report within 48 hours loses the place

Two things that are in bold on the site. You may submit only one file per level, and you apply for the city where your child will go to school, not the city you still plan to move to. And you must live in Morocco: that is checked at enrolment, and whoever does not meet it is struck off.

For the youngest children, from petite section up to and including CP, there is a thirty-minute interview with the family, at a school from your list of preferences. From CE1 up to and including seconde, a committee assesses the reports of the previous school year and the first term of the current year.

Who gets priority?

French children come first, as long as there are places. Then come children of any nationality who spent two full years of the last three in the French system; they do not have to take a level assessment. For admission to the petite section the platform also names nationals of the EU member states as priority children, and the Netherlands is on that list. Brothers and sisters of a pupil already at a French school also come first.

A summer move misses the round. Applications close on 11 March and the result comes in April. Whoever still applies after 19 March ends up in a late committee, and the platform warns that the number of places is very limited and that you have to arrange another school in time yourself. So plan the move around the school calendar, or deliberately choose another school for the first year.

What does it cost?

The school fees for the 2026 school year are online per school. For the schools directly run by the AEFE in Casablanca and Mohammedia, with the rates for non-French children:

Item	Amount
Enrolment fee on first enrolment	30,000 dirhams
Nursery school, per year	53,400 dirhams
Primary school, per year	50,100 dirhams
Collège, per year	54,800 dirhams
Lycée, per year	60,700 dirhams

Rabat and Kénitra charge 54,200 to 61,500 dirhams a year. For the enrolment fee the AEFE schools give a 50 percent discount from the second child and exemption from the third, if you enrol them at the same time. The OSUI schools charge differently: the lycée Louis-Massignon in Casablanca asks 55,400 to 76,700 dirhams a year and 25,000 dirhams in enrolment fees. French children pay less and can get a grant; the AEFE gives those only to children with French nationality, so for a Dutch child you pay the full rate.

What do you arrange on the Dutch side?

Tell the school in the Netherlands in good time that you are moving. The school deregisters your child and gives you a proof of deregistration, which may not be older than six months when you hand it in somewhere.

Stop counting on child benefit. Since 2 January 2021 there has been no right under the social security convention to child benefit for children living in the other country. What that means for your budget is in the step-by-step plan at /marokko; what happens to your state pension and pension is in state pension, pension and tax in Morocco.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 3 of 5 of the journey, step 3.6: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Morocco or go straight to step 3.6 in the open plan.