A UN report highlights significant education gaps in Morocco, with lower primary school enrollment rates among children from poor families compared to rich families and rural areas compared to urban areas. Despite these disparities, Morocco has made notable progress in closing the gender gap in education. A report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) has warned of a widening gap in education in Morocco between children from rich and poor families, children living in rural areas, and their peers living in cities. Titled «Education in the Arab Region: Closing Gaps to Ensure 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 rich families, standing at 77% compared to 97%. The UN commission also notes a gap in access to primary education in Morocco between rural and urban students. The school enrollment rate in rural areas in Morocco reaches 83%, lower than that recorded in urban areas, where it reaches a high 96%, comments the report. Based on these elements, the report places Morocco among five Arab countries with a gap of more than 10% in primary school enrollment between children from rich and poor families. In this category, Sudan ranked first with a gap in primary school enrollment between poor and rich children measured at 64%, followed by Yemen with 34%, Comoros with 23%, and Morocco with 20%. The report attributes the disparity in school enrollment rates between rural and urban areas to «limited coverage, long travel distances to attend school, a lack of available or adequate transport, economic challenges, and cultural norms that may prioritize children assisting with family responsibilities or engaging in labor». Furthermore, Morocco was among the Arab countries with the largest gaps in primary school enrollment between rural and urban areas at 13%, ranking second behind Sudan at 24%. Closing the gender gap in education Despite the gaps recorded in school enrollment in Morocco between rural and urban children, as well as among children from poor and rich families, the report admits that the kingdom has made some progress in closing education gender gaps. «India, Morocco, and Nepal have made significant progress in closing the education gender gap in the last 30 years, and Arab countries can benefit from their experiences», the report said. It explains that in 1990, the primary school enrollment gender parity index ratio (GPI), which measures how evenly boys and girls are enrolled in schools, for primary school education was at 0.68 in Morocco. In 2020, Morocco achieved GPI scores of more than 0.96, indicating near gender parity in the percentages of boys and girls enrolled in primary school. In Morocco, the significant increase in girls' primary school enrollment (about 28% from 1999 to 2013) is directly linked to a long-term focus on building schools in rural areas and implementing gender equality reforms. «These achievements in closing the gender gap in primary school enrollment are reflected in higher scores on the Global Gender Gap Index, moving 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)», the report concluded.
