Rabat – Morocco’s National Observatory for Human Development (ONDH) has issued a report titled “Human Development Monitoring Indicators.” The report analyzes data from 2012 to 2017.
The report found the literacy rate among Moroccan young people aged 15-24 was 94 percent in 2017.
The rate increased from from 88 percent in 2012.
ONDH said that men have had higher literacy rates than women over the five-year period. The report, published by Maghreb Arab Press (MAP), found that the literacy rate for men is 95.6 percent compared to 91.3 percent for women.
The gap between women and men, however, has narrowed from 7.2 percentage points in 2012 to 4.3 points in 2017.
Illiteracy higher in rural areas
The report found a wide gap in education levels between rural and urban areas, noting that young people in rural areas have lower literacy rates than those in urban areas, “although the gap has narrowed to almost 9 points..”
The literacy rate increases with the standard of living quintile, rising from 79 percent to 86 percent for the poorest 20 percent of the population and and from 94 percent to 98 percent for the wealthiest 20 percent.
Moroccans aged 25 and older had received 4.7 years of education, on average, in 2017. Men had received 5.8 years and women 3.8 years.
The average was 6.1 years in urban areas and 2.2 years in rural areas. Over the 2012-2017 period, the number of years of study increased by six months.
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3.3% of children never went to school
ONDH also mentioned compulsory schooling for children aged 6-15, saying that in 2017, 92 percent of school-age children were in school, while 5 percent of children had dropped out of school.
Three percent of school-age children have never been to school.
“The progress between 2012 and 2017 shows that the proportion of children in school has increased by 2.3 percentage points while out-of-school and those who have never attended school have decreased by 1.8 and 0.4 points, respectively,” said the study.
The net enrollment rate of 6-11 year olds at the primary level, according to ONDH, increased from 91 percent in 2012 to 93 percent in 2017.
For secondary school, the net enrollment rate for 12-14 year old pupils rose from 50 percent to 61 percent. Net enrollment for the third education level of 15-17-year-old students rose from 29 percent to 37 percent.
8% more boys go to high school than girls
Over the 2012-2017 period, enrollment rates for boys were higher than those of girls, concluded the report. ONDH’s study found that the gap increases with age. In 2017, the gap between boys and girls was 0.5 percent for ages 6-11, 4.5 percent for ages 12-14, and 8.1 percent for ages 15-17.
Before the 2018-2019 academic year began, the Ministry of Education pledged reforms for the Moroccan education system to combat drop-out rates.
Minister of Education Said Amzazi said that his ministry seeks to reduce the rate of school drop-outs from 6 percent in rural primary schools to 1 percent by 2024-2025.
Amzazi pledged a decrease in the rate of dropouts in secondary schools from 12 percent to 3 percent, in both rural and urban areas, for the 2024-2025 school year.
He also promised reforms in terms of training and youth employment in the education field, proposing the creation of a new generation of vocational training centers.
