At the end of June, 86,000 people in the Souss-Massa region of Morocco will sit exams as part of an anti-illiteracy program run by the National Agency Against Illiteracy.
Rabat – In the last two weeks of June, 86,017 people in the Souss-Massa region of Morocco will sit exams as part of an anti-illiteracy program run by the National Agency Against Illiteracy (ANLCA).
Most of the candidates are enrolled to sit exams in the Taroudant province (40,717), and the others will sit exams across the prefectures of Chtouka Ait Baha, Agadir Idda Outanane, Inezgane Ait Melloul and the provinces of Tata and Tiznit, all located in the southern region of Morocco.
The exams are part of an anti-illiteracy program for children and adults run by ANLCA, the national body set up in 2013 to address Morocco’s literacy challenges.
In 2014 (the date of the latest figures on the issue) 32.2% of Morocco’s population older than 10 years of age was illiterate.
Illiteracy affects women more than men, with 42.1% of Moroccan women and 22.1% of men found to be illiterate in 2014. Rural populations are also more affected, with 57% of illiterate people coming from rural areas as opposed to 43% from urban areas.
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In the Souss-Massa region, where the exams will take place at the end of this month, 33.1% of people were illiterate in 2014.
Since 2013, ANLCA has put in place a national strategy against illiteracy, aiming to reduce illiteracy rates to 10% by 2026. It supports organizations across Morocco that work towards ensuring access to education. ANLCA runs workshops for teachers and provides training modules to support children and adults in achieving literacy, prioritizing actions for women, children and people in rural areas.
It has also created an app, “Alpha Nour,” to teach basic literacy, and in May, it launched the Center for Literacy Resources and Expertise (CREA), a virtual platform on which to share training modules.
ANLCA’s goal is for 1,050,000 people to achieve literacy every year.
The right to education is a fundamental human right, recognized by international statutes and enshrined in Articles 31 and 32 of Morocco’s constitution.
