Mitigating gender gap in access to primary education in rural areas of Morocco

ABSTRACT Under the influence of the common goals of Education For All (EFA), Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the international development realm, many countries around the world have reached a great level of development through continuous improvement in education since 2000. Meanwhile, Morocco could be one of the developing countries that struggle to resolve many problems resulting from having a weak educational system, which has been considered as one of the main obstacles to the country's economic growth. The purpose of this article is to analyse the gender gap in access to primary education in rural areas of Morocco, focusing on primary school girls. Based on the investigation on the major obstacles, we carried out descriptive statistics with selected variables such as the adjusted net enrolment rate, the cumulative drop-out rate to the last grade, the gross intake ration (graduation ratio) to the last grade, and Gender Parity Index (GPI). In addition, we conducted a few private interviews via Skype with local stakeholders to underpin our research and to reflect personal ideas on the Moroccan educational system from their own perspective. Lastly, we suggested applicable solutions against those barriers from the perspective of education ODA.