Education ameliorates people’s lives, enhances their self-esteem, their ability to learn new things which will help them expand their knowledge, and their ability to cope with the majority of the society. It makes them self-confident and informed populace that can understand issues, represent themselves, and take responsibility. However, a lot of people in Moroccan rural areas are deprived from this fundamental right due to illiteracy.
Many Moroccan people are illiterate for different reasons. To start with, in the near past people didn’t have a chance to attend school either because the school was far from them, or because of their parents disapproval. A lot of parents do not yet recognize the importance of education. Hence, many of them still refuse to allow their children especially girls to go to school. Others also believed that education is going to destroy their daughter’s morals, and as a result, the society will have a bad image for them. Moreover, so many children are really willing to continue their education but; because the university or school is very far from their houses, they simply decide to drop out at an early age.
Material reasons are another factor which contributes to people’s illiteracy. Many families are poor and so they decide not to send their children to school as they can’t afford to deal with today’s increasing demands of education. More girls are also obliged to leave school with a view to making it possible for their father to have enough money for the education of their brothers, as the parents think that the son has more priority to schooling than the girl who will get to have a husband and set a family at any cases. Add to this that many parents in rural areas tend to send their children to work in the city for the sake of helping the family with a few coins to face the demands of life.
For the sake of improving the conditions of education in our society and in order to decrease the rate of illiteracy, the Moroccan government has recently launched a new family code. This new law has restricted the conditions under which a girl can get married giving, therefore, more chances to girls to continue their education to later ages. Furthermore, now more and more primary and secondary schools have been built in remote areas, and this has allowed it very possible for girls to finish at least their secondary schooling. A very effective strategy that has been adopted by the Moroccan government is that they help parents who send their children -including girls- to school with some life necessities such as oil, sugar, etc…
The education of parents has also changed a lot in our society and, as result, we see that so many of them are ready to let their children finish post secondary education. Another important factor that is contributing to the spread of people’s education is the big changes affecting people’s culture. Now, it’s no longer a shame when a girl goes to university or when she is in the middle of a group of boys at school. Many men also prefer to get engaged with an educated woman and this has pushed many of the parents and the daughters to go into school and get at least a secondary education.
To sum up, there is no development while ignorance is spreading. A lot of people are still illiterate in our society and we are all responsible for putting an end to this situation. Many measures have been taken, and yet there are still many things to do so that we reach an illiteracy-free society.
Written by: EL OTMANI EL HASSANE – 05/08/2013
