Fez - The Child Rights Committee (CRC) of the United Nations has recommended that the Moroccan government assess and address the consequences of the ongoing rapid privatization of education in Morocco, and has requested that the government provide information about the measures it has taken to improve the quality of public education and the impact of privatization on efforts to combat inequality.
The CRC has expressed concern that "Private education in Morocco is developing very quickly, especially in elementary schools without the necessary supervision regarding registration requirements and the quality of teaching, which has led to increased inequality in the enjoyment of the right to education."
On March 19, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) also tendered a list of questions to be answered by the Moroccan government, including a question about education.
This request is based on a written report by a group of Moroccan and international NGOs active in the field of education that was submitted to the CESCR in December, 2014.
According to the NGOs, privatization perpetuates and increases social and economic inequalities, and serves to deprive people in remote areas and low income populations from access to quality education.
Privatization of education in Morocco started in 1983, when the Kingdom began implementing the World Bank’s recommendations to reduce spending on public education. Between 1983 and 1989, the budget allocated to the Ministry of Education was reduced by 11%. The result was that the percentage of students enrolled in private schools at the primary level increased from 4 percent in 1999 to 13 percent in 2012, representing an annual average growth of 8 percent.
At this rate, by 2030, one in two pupils will be enrolled in a private school. Simultaneously, even though the total number of students enrolled in primary school increased by 10 percent between 2000 and 2013, the number of those enrolled in public schools has stayed the same or even declined slightly (-0.65 percent) over the same period.
The purpose of the Global Initiative for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights is not to question the existence of private education, but to regulate it so that it does not create educational disparities and so it does not lead to the “commodification” of education.
Sylvain Aubry, the report researcher for the Global Initiative for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, has previously warned Morocco about the dangers in the growth of privatization, and said, “Morocco is at risk of developing a two-speed education system which privileges fee-paying private education at the expense of quality and accessible education for the least advantaged and children in rural areas.”
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