The socio-economic status of parents is a key determinant
Pre-schooling: The High Commission for Planning (HCP) has just published the latest issue of its review “Les Cahiers au Plan” which includes a study on the inequalities of educational opportunities in Morocco. The place of residence, the educational inequalities of the parents and the income inequalities are the main factors.
Guaranteeing equitable and non-discriminatory access to quality education, for the benefit of all children of school age, is a major challenge for the government. In its latest issue of Cahiers au Plan which has just been published, the High Commission for Planning (HCP) focused on inequalities in educational opportunities in Morocco. The analysis conducted as part of this study was based on the index of equity of opportunity in Morocco during the period from 2004 to 2014. According to data from the General Census of Population and Housing in Morocco (2014), just over half of children (51.9%) aged 4 to 6 had not attended a preschool institution. In spatial terms, the territorial coverage of pre-schooling remains very disparate. It is more marked in urban areas (69.9%) than in rural areas (20%). It turns out that children from urban areas are 3.5 times more likely to attend preschool than children from rural areas. Similarly, children with many siblings are more exposed to the risk of being deprived of pre-schooling. The study notes that the chances of access to pre-schooling increase with the educational level of the head of household.
Thus, when the head of household has a higher level of education, the rate of pre-schooling of children is nearly 2.9 times higher than that of children whose head of household has never been to school, and more twice as high as that of children whose head of household has reached primary school level. The analysis by the socio-professional category of the head of household shows that parents with a high level of employment are more attentive to pre-schooling: more than 70% of their children aged 4 to 6 years are pre-schooled. Conversely, more than three-quarters of the children of farmers and agricultural laborers do not attend pre-school. It should also be noted that the better the household’s standard of living, the higher the children’s access to pre-schooling.
The preschool enrollment rate for children in the wealthiest 20% in terms of expenditure per household (79.9%) is 3.6 times greater than that of the poorest 20% (22%). The analysis of inequalities of opportunity in preschool education through the index of equity of opportunity shows that despite the persistence of educational inequalities in Morocco, access to preschool education records a marked improvement in terms of equity. Indeed, the IEC almost tripled between the two periods 2004 and 2014, going from 12.1% in 2004 to 35.8% in 2014.
Children of senior executives are 5 times more likely to go to secondary school than agricultural workers
Contrary to pre-school education, the widening of the chances of access to primary education is weakly affected by the socio-economic status of the parents. This is mainly due to the efforts undertaken in recent years. In terms of access to primary education, the equity of opportunity index has improved to the extent that it rose from 76.9 to 92.5% between 2004 and 2014. Income gaps are the main source (67%) of inequality of opportunity in terms of access to primary education. Access to this level of education is the corollary of the student’s socio-economic status. A child whose parents have a high level of education is 1.8 times more likely to access secondary school and 3.5 times more likely to access high school than one whose parents have no educational level. The analysis by the socio-professional category of the head of the household reveals that the children of senior executives are 5 times more likely to access secondary school than the children of farmers and agricultural workers.
College secondary: Strong disparities between urban and rural areas
At the college secondary level, the IEC index almost doubled, rising from 27.3 to 51.7% over the period. More than two-thirds (68.4%) of this improvement is due to the expansion of the rate of access to college education (investment effect). As for the rest (31.6%), it is explained by the reduction in inequalities of opportunity (equalization effect) due to the reduction in inequality of opportunities (28% in 2004 to 15.4% in 2014) . The main explanatory factors for inequality of opportunity in college secondary education are the disparities between urban and rural areas (36%), parents’ educational inequalities (35%) and income inequalities (21%). These three factors explain almost all of the inequalities in educational opportunities (92%). This finding is almost the same at qualifying secondary level, insofar as the IEC index has improved markedly, rising from 11.4% in 2004 to 25.5% in 2014. That said, the equity of opportunities in terms of access to secondary education remains remarkably low. This result is mainly due to the resistance to the decline in inequalities of opportunity, which are still high (27.5% in 2014 against 37.2% in 2004).
The chances of accessing higher education increase with the educational level of the parents
Educational level The population of Moroccan university students is clearly improving. That said, the analysis by area of residence shows the preponderance of strong disparities in favor of the urban area. The chances of accessing higher education increase with the educational level of the parents. For example, young people whose father has a higher education level are 5.4 times more likely to access higher education than those whose father has never been to school and 3.7 times more than those whose father has only primary school education. Young people whose father is a senior manager or member of the liberal professions, line manager (or technician or middle manager) are more favored in terms of access to higher education.
Inequalities in educational opportunities are tough in Morocco