Morocco has made major progress in expanding access to education, sharply reducing out-of-school rates and increasing enrolment over the past two decades, according to UNESCO. However, challenges remain, including high repetition rates, rising costs for families, and persistent regional disparities. DR ‹ › Morocco has made significant progress in expanding access to education over the past two decades, with out-of-school rates dropping sharply, according to UNESCO's latest Global Education Monitoring Report. Released on Wednesday, the assessment shows that between 2000 and 2023, the share of out-of-school adolescents in Morocco fell by 85%, from 42% to 6%. A similar trend is observed among upper secondary youth, with a decline of 63%, from 63% to 23%, bringing Morocco closer to upper-middle-income country averages. Overall, the out-of-school rate in Morocco fell at a pace of 1.6 percentage points per year, «a fast pace that has been maintained for over a quarter of a century», the report notes. This progress was accompanied by a sharp decline in the number of out-of-school children and youth, which dropped from over 2 million in 2000 to 570,000 in 2023, a reduction of 72%, according to the report. This improvement, the report says, has been supported by a major expansion of school infrastructure. Between the 1999/2000 and 2023/24 school years, the number of public lower secondary schools more than doubled, from 941 to 2,024, while upper secondary schools nearly tripled, from 537 to 1,505. At the same time, enrolment has risen steadily. The proportion of students entering lower secondary education increased from 50% in 2000 to 90% in 2024, while entry into upper secondary education rose from 20% to 50% between 2000 and 2020. High repetition rates However, the report highlights that access does not always translate into progression. «Being in school does not necessarily mean progressing through each grade on time», it notes, pointing to persistent repetition rates. While repetition in primary education declined to 7% in 2024, it remained high in secondary education, reaching 23% in lower secondary by 2019, before declining to 11% in upper secondary in 2024. The growing cost of education is also identified as a challenge. The share of education in household consumption rose from 1.6% in 2001 to 3.7% in 2014, reflecting increased financial pressure on families. To address these barriers, Morocco has expanded social support programmes. The Tayssir cash transfer programme, which provides monthly stipends of $8 to $13, reached 3.1 million students in 2025, while additional support of MAD 200 to MAD 300 has been introduced to cover back-to-school costs. School transport support has also expanded significantly, benefiting 111,000 students, 75% of whom live in rural areas. Efforts to reintegrate school dropouts have also shown results. The report notes that the «Second Chance School» programme enrolled nearly 18,000 students in 2024/25, with 72% reintegrated into formal education, vocational training, or employment. Despite this progress, the report stresses that challenges remain. While «strong and sustained improvements… have been driven by targeted interventions», it warns that «despite major progress, regional disparities in dropout rates remain significant».
