School Dropouts among Girls from Rural Areas

Women’s growth and development are inevitably bound up with access to education. However, in Morocco, the current status of women’s education is disappointing. In fact, the World Bank statistics of rural girls’ school retention are at an alarming rate due to the social attitudes and cultural practices that devalue women. Morocco is no exception and it is among the countries where the number of illiterates is high despite all the efforts made by the government and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to eradicate illiteracy and dropouts among girls from rural areas. Research related to this phenomenon failed to address the issues, its causes, repercussions, and recommendations. The present article is an attempt to provide a comprehensive account of the present-day situation of school dropouts in the Moroccan society in light of the Education for All goals (EFA). The manuscript seeks to outline the main reasons that make schooling difficult if not impossible and to suggest some recommendations that the Moroccan policymakers should carefully adopt to overcome all the barriers. The current paper goes further to understand the causes and effects of this scourge which delays the development of women, the family and society at large.