Boudour Wa Joussour: Art and Culture in Service of Preschool

Boudour Wa Joussour, an initiative of Oum El Ghait, places culture, the arts and creativity at the center of education. Through workshops and showcase performances, many children explored emotions, imagination and communal life using an adapted Sufi tale.

The purpose goes beyond simple entertainment and seeks to promote holistic development in contexts where equal opportunity must begin from an early age.

Launched by Oum El Ghait, the Boudour Wa Joussour project marked the 2025–2026 school year in the Sidi Moumen and Sidi Bernoussi neighborhoods. It ended with a tour of performances in May and June 2026. Children themselves presented the results of their work, supervised by educators, artists and experts.

“We aim for an artistic and cultural awakening that strengthens language, motor, social and creative skills,” explains Amal El Kadiri Berrada, president and founder of the association. The project is part of a broader vision of quality preschool education accessible to all, particularly in disadvantaged urban areas.

At the heart of the program is the tale “The Hoopoe and the Twelve Birds”. A free adaptation of Farid al-Din ‘Attar’s “The Conference of the Birds”, rewritten by Professor Faouzi Skali and adapted for children by Professors Khaled and Brigitte Andaloussi. Each bird represents an emotion or human quality. In this way, the children explore their imagination, Moroccan cultural heritage and values of solidarity, respect and openness to others. The story becomes a poetic vehicle for emotional expression and early relational learning.

The workshops incorporate theater, music, visual arts and movement. The children produce collective creations. They develop fine motor skills, vocabulary and their ability to cooperate.

Training educators and involving families

The association implemented a structured evaluation. It observes five dimensions: cognitive (curiosity, critical thinking), language (oral expression), aesthetic-creative (imagination, artistic sensitivity), motor, and social-civic (listening, confidence, communal living).

Observation grids, analysis of productions and monitoring of interactions document progress. Families are involved in this co-education approach. “My daughter talks more easily about what she feels. She sings the stories at home and wants to draw with her brothers”, says Fatima, mother of a participating child. These reports, although subjective, align with the observations of the educators trained by the association.

Oum El Ghait does not limit itself to children. The association invests in continuous training for educators and in parental support through programs such as CASCADE. The objective is to create continuity between school, family and neighborhood.

The 2026 edition therefore concludes with a desire for sustainability and gradual expansion. Oum El Ghait relies on a structured approach based on close support and continuous evaluation of practices.

In a country that is generalizing preschool education, the Boudour Wa Joussour experience raises the question of the role of arts and culture, between luxury and an indispensable lever for every child’s flourishing. The answer is built on the ground, day after day, in classrooms and on the improvised stages of the neighborhoods.