A report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) has warned of a growing Gap in education in Morocco, between children from rich and poor families, those living in rural areas and their peers in the city.
Titled “Education in the Arab region: Closing the gaps so that no child is left behind,” the report notes that the primary school enrollment rate in Morocco among children from poor families in 2020 is lower than that of their peers from wealthy families, standing at 77% versus 97%.
The UN commission also notes a gap in access to primary education in Morocco between rural and urban students. Thus, the schooling rate in the countryside reaches 83%, lower than that of the cities (96%).
Based on these elements, the report places Morocco among five Arab countries with a gap of more than 10% in primary schooling between children from rich and poor families. In this category, Sudan ranks first, with a gap of 64%, followed by Yemen (34%), Comoros (23%), and Morocco (20%).
The report attributes the disparity in enrollment rates between rural and urban areas to “limited coverage, long distances to school, lack of available or adequate transportation, economic challenges, and cultural norms that may favor children helping with family responsibilities or engaging in work.
Furthermore, Morocco is among the Arab countries with the largest gaps in primary school enrollment between rural and urban areas (13%), ranking second behind Sudan (24%).
Closing the gap between girls and boys
Despite economic and spatial gaps, the report recognizes Morocco’s efforts in reducing gender gaps in education. “India, Morocco and Nepal have made significant progress in closing the gender gap in education over the past 30 years, and Arab countries can benefit from their experiences,” the document says .
He explains that in 1990, the primary education parity index (GPI), which measures how equally boys and girls are enrolled in school, was 0.68 in Morocco. In 2020, the kingdom achieved GPI scores of over 0.96, indicating near equality in primary school enrollment.
In Morocco, the significant increase in girls’ school enrollment (around 28% from 1999 to 2013) is directly linked to long-term work on the construction of schools in rural areas, in addition to the implementation of reforms for gender equality.
“These achievements in closing the gender gap in primary school enrollment are reflected in higher scores on the Global Gender Gap Index, increasing from 0.85 in 2006 to 0.94 in 2020 (+0.09), and on the human development index, from 0.529 in 2006 to 0.686 in 2020 (+0.157),” concluded the report.
