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Eric Rusten
Students who drop out don’t just disappear. They often become under-employed, more likely to have shorter life spans and fail to become active members of civic activities.
In Morocco, the numbers are staggering: 300,000 to 400,000 children drop out of school yearly. The rate for 7th, 8th or 9th graders in 2010 reached 10.8 percent, according to the Education Ministry. While government efforts have lowered the rate of dropouts, today, a first grader has a 50-50 chance of completing high school, UNICEF reports.
While the Moroccan government, donors and others are working to address this persistent problem, those who are directly affected are rarely consulted about the reasons they drop out of school or asked to offer ideas about what could be done to reduce the number of dropouts. The few times when youth are consulted, the process is controlled by adults.
Engaging Middle School Students
Youth Speak – Morocco addresses this gap by enabling middle school youth who are personally involved in the drop out problem to lead and conduct research with their peers and other stakeholders to ensure that youth perspectives are collected and clearly presented.
In short, Youth Speak is research carried out by youth, with youth and for youth.
This youth-led research and awareness-raising initiative enabled 12 youth in middle school and 12 youth who had dropped out of middle school to conduct rigorous research on factors that contribute to youth dropping out of school with other middle school-age youth and members of local communities.
Youth Speak – Morocco, which contributed to the Moroccan Government’s efforts to reduce drop outs, was implemented through USAID’s Improving Training for Quality Advancement in National Education (ITQANE) project, administered by Creative Associates International. The project was also implemented in partnership with the Education Ministry’s Directorate of Non Formal Education.
Youth Speak – Morocco sought to better understand of the factors that contribute to youth dropping out of school, as well as the actions that schools, communities, families and the government can take to reduce the rates. It also addresses the challenges youth face in transitioning from school to work.
Youth Speak – Morocco raises awareness of the drop out issue and creates more effective relationships among local stakeholders to rapidly reduce the number of youth dropping out of school.
Relevant Research
The 24 youth, organized in teams of four, conducted the research in six communities around Morocco. Three research methods—a survey, several focus group discussions and in-depth interviews—were used to gather information from middle school students, youth who had recently dropped out, parents and community representatives.
The research teams, adult coaches two Youth Speak coordinators and Creative staff then analyzed the data. Each team prepared local research reports that were reviewed by Education Ministry officials.
The teams then organized local events to present their results to youth, teachers, officials and parents from their schools and communities. Following these local events, the six teams were brought together for a national event in Fez.
The youth-led research produced the following findings:
Despite these problems, those surveyed see the value of education.
Click here for photo slideshows from day one to final day of the Youth Speak event!
Eric Rusten is a Senior Associate, Education for Development Division, Creative Associates International.
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“I’m especially pleased by Morocco’s commitments to take on the deeply troubling problem of child marriage. We know that child brides are less likely to get an education, more likely to face life-threatening problems, particularly around child birth and delivery, which not only shortchanges them but can even rob them and their communities of their lives and talents. “
With these words at the Opening Plenary of the U.S.-Morocco Strategic Dialogue, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acknowledged to Foreign Minister Saad-Eddine Al-Othmani his country’s efforts to address and end the practice of child marriage. In her opening remarks, Secretary Clinton referenced the long history of partnership that exists between the United States and Morocco, dating back to 1777, and the mutual interest both countries presently have to engage, educate, and give opportunity to youth.
The story of Aziza and Fatima tangibly demonstrates the positive outcome of such mutual efforts by both governments. Aziza and Fatima are 15 years old and live in the villages of Douar Lkhmirate and Douar Ouled El Khadi in the Moroccan countryside, 15 km from Ibn Baja, the middle school they attend. Last year, the girls faced a very similar and striking experience: Their parents forced them to leave school for primarily financial reasons. The parents did not believe they could find the means to pay for lodging the following year, as the girls were assigned to a high school in El Jadida, a distance too far to travel daily.
Moroccan law very clearly prohibits marriage for those under the legal age of 18. However, in rural areas, enforcement proves at times more challenging. Because they did not plan for their daughter to continue to high school, Aziza’s parents arranged for her to marry a worker who lived with the family. In Fatima’s case, her mother believed she should work in the field to help the family and help raise her little sister, since “in any case, she does not have long before she marries and has her own children.”
In school though, Aziza and Fatima had participated in a USAID life skills/employability club. When Aziza and Fatima’s peers noticed their long absence, they quickly understood that they needed help: “We learned to think of others and try to help others. These are human values that we learned thanks to the club and that brought us together.”
One day, their peers from the club organized their thoughts, chose a spokesperson for the group, and went to see the program director to raise awareness of Aziza and Fatima’s circumstances. Together, they visited the two families and convinced the parents to let their daughters finish the school year and continue their education.
When the girls returned after a two month absence, their peers shared their class notes and helped them to make up any missing work, so they could prepare for final exams. Aziza and Fatima both excelled and were able to find lodging close to the high school at El Jadida. Thanks to this program, Aziza and Fatima can continue their studies, choose when to marry, and ultimately build their futures.
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Some challenges transcend borders; undoubtedly though, solutions start locally, from within. Moroccans are currently experiencing a fourteen percent middle school dropout rate. A limited education for these youth often jeopardizes their future, resulting in long periods of unemployment which in turn make them vulnerable to exploitation by criminal or violent groups.
USAID has partnered with Morocco’s Ministry of Education to address this challenge by modernizing teaching methods all over the country. With assistance from USAID education experts, the Ministry of Education has modernized teacher training materials, equipping teachers with strategies to help students excel academically and stay in school. More than 300 teacher trainers are using the new methods and materials introduced by USAID during the 2011-2012 academic year; they have reached nearly 2,500 trainee-teachers.
Morocco’s professional teacher trainers welcome this initiative because it gives them a way to help teachers address real problems they experience in the classroom. Mohamed Ouilali, a trainer based in Marrakesh, noted that, “USAID is very effective in raising the quality of teacher training in Morocco. The drop-out problem is real in this country. USAID’s collaboration with the Moroccan Ministry of Education is undeniably important and comes at the right time to meet this challenge in the changing educational context in the country.”
Dissimulated through Morocco’s teacher training institutes, the teaching emphasis has shifted to include: strengthening critical thinking, responding to student apathy, and addressing remedial learning needs. Additionally, management training for school directors ensures efficient and transparent use of school resources.
As a result of applying USAID’s training in effective instruction, Mr. Abdelkarim Choklate, an art trainer based in the Tangiers teacher training center, declared: “Thanks to USAID, teacher trainees experienced ways of teaching which are the opposite of what their students are accustomed to in the past. They now give more importance to flexible time management and to group activities which enliven students and provide an opportunity for peer to peer learning.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-primary”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
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[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]In a highly-charged context of striking teachers and changing exam dates, the Parliament’s May 11 session provided an opportunity for the Minister of National Education, Mrs. Latifa El Abida, to answer critical questions about Morocco’s education scene. Included among such crucial issues as management of the Baccalaureate exams period and the difficulties of implementing the Ministry’s Emergency Program in the field, the Minister praised USAID’s ITQANE Project as a real partner in the process of improving the quality of teaching in the Moroccan middle schools.
Parliamentarians had previously addressed questions to the Minister based on interest generated by ITQANE, specifically with regard to reducing student drop-out. Mrs. Latifa El Abida gave an overview of how the project supports the Ministry in implementing its Emergency Plan for Education (2009-2012) by improving the quality and relevance of education offered in middle schools across Morocco and increasing the fight against middle school dropout. She also emphasized the importance of joint actions taken by both Ministry and ITQANE teams in the field, attesting to the Project team’s hard work with Ministry counterparts.
Project ITQANE staff.
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Dr. Abdelkader Ezzaki, ITQANE Deputy Chief of Party, during a visit to Creative’s Washington headquarters.
Even in Morocco where strong family traditions prevail, along with a national commitment that allots 25 percent of the country’s GDP to education, adolescents in the middle school years face immense challenges to completing school. These are the transition years; hormones are raging, boundaries are being explored and crucial dimensions on the pathway to establishing a stable identity and life direction are emerging.
“The middle school population is at a crossroads. They are adolescents and vulnerable,” said Abdelkader Ezzaki, Deputy Chief of Party of the ITQANE project, a USAID-funded education program that seeks to mitigate the critical factors causing middle school students to fail. “Middle school is a crucial time as it is a determinant of what direction an adolescent will pursue in terms of education and ultimately life,” said Ezzaki.
That said, in the 2009-2010 scholarly year, 380,000 students dropped out of school. And, in the 2008-2009 school term there were 859,000 repeaters. In sum, 1 in 5 Moroccan adolescents are drop-outs or school repeaters. These statistics have been worrisome enough for the Moroccan government to develop an Emergency Program for 2009-2012 to speed up education reform and improve education outcomes as dictated by Education Charter launched in 1999. ITQANE works within the education system to help the education ministry carry out reforms that will decrease the number of dropouts and school repeaters and improve student success rates.
Among these reforms is the commitment to promote a Vie Scolaire or school life culture which encourages participation in school clubs that provide kids with non-classroom activities where they can develop psycho-social skills, such as positive attitudes, sharing, listening, team work, and communication skills. These types of characteristics complement education instruction and help students identify the choices they must make to build lives. ITQANE hopes to help teachers develop skill sets that will further student culture by promoting learner-centered interactions that can help to identify a child’s interest and motivation to learn by doing. As such, the Vie Scolaire is a departure from Morocco’s primarily cognitive and rote learning tradition that rarely addresses adolescents’ psycho-social needs, and draws instead on directing students’ attention to also learning non-academic skills in creative way or learning collaboratively.
“When I was asked to participate in an initial club activity, I had no idea of the point of the exercise, but my school director insisted that I attend and, I thought to myself, I would not participate beyond the first session,” said Essaid El Ouarid, a professor at Lycée Ibn Abbad, an ITQANE target school. “Today, however, I feel privileged to have had the chance to participate in this excellent program that has immensely enriched me and enabled me to realize how simple things, actions, can lead to important changes for the students.”
A response to Morocco’s Emergency Program, the ITQANE project, or the Improving Training for Quality Advancement in National Education, is the latest project in USAID’s long-term investment in Morocco. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of State, ‘Morocco was the first country to establish diplomatic relations with the Government of the United States in 1777 and remains one of our oldest and closest allies in the region.’ In the past fifteen years, USAID has actively supported Morocco’s education sector and Creative Associates International has implemented several USAID-supported education projects bringing innovative and technically savvy interventions into the country. Among these interventions was the six year Morocco Education for Girls project, known as MEG, which integrated into its professional training modules Morocco’s first computer assisted teacher training program. Now, under ITQANE, some 21 teacher training modules developed over the last decade by various USAID implementers, including Creative, are being adapted for the teaching institutes to help make classroom instruction more flexible, and these modules are being transformed into e-learning training.
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| Young girl requesting permission to join school club. |
“The need for training teachers is critical, especially middle school teachers — 60 percent of whom will retire in the next ten years,” said Kristen Potter, USAID’s education representative in Morocco. “This restructuring of teaching institutions and the focus on middle school students is an opportune moment for us [USAID and the Ministry of Education] to have real and lasting impact on the system.”
Beyond addressing cross cutting issues in the Program such as teacher education and an integrated youth strategy, both of which are critical to Morocco’s future, ITQANE’s other strength is its integration into the structure of Morocco’s Ministry of Education. This alignment of goals between ITQANE and the ministry bode well for the long-term continued impact of these interventions. In fact, the ministry contributes financially to some of the training interventions for teachers and school leaders, with the goal of improving performance in schools.
“International organizations bring not only resources but ideas to the Ministry of Education. For the education ministry, international projects are like the lungs within which the system breathes, opens up to new ideas,” said Ezzaki. “ITQANE is a masterpiece in reform, planning and design. It is a timely project, unlike others, it is a response to an institutional need from the MOE to support an ambitious program.”
Launched in April 2010, ITQANE now covers close to 200 middle schools in two pilot regions, Fez-Boulemane and Doukkala-Abda. In 2011, the project will extend interventions from middle schools in the two regions to selected provinces in another eleven regions. Formally apathetic towards school, students in the Vie Scolaire programs are reporting on its impact on them. “I did not know how to listen to others, which caused me many problems,” said a young boy at College Omar Ibn Khattab in Fez. “But, since I’ve been involved in these activities, my family has remarked that my attitude has changed; also, they [my family] too have changed their attitude towards me. So, I thought to myself that if I had received this guidance earlier, I would have avoided many problems. I hope that these activities will continue.”
ITQANE’s report card may not yet be ready for parents’ signatures, but anecdotal feedback from the team to teachers, students and school directors seems to bode well.
“Morocco needs several ITQANEs and more inspiration, faith and the dedication of everyone involved in education, especially teachers,” said Ezzaki. “You know, ITQANE, the acronym itself captures the essence and intelligence of the project’s goals. In Arabic, it means quality, mastery, excellence because we believe that this project is moved by values of quality, mastery, excellence and capability….a piece of the education culture we would like to provide, giving value to quality and for the sake of quality.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-primary”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
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The Education for ALL (EFA) initiative has led governments worldwide to attempt systemic reforms that will enable them to ensure universal primary education by 2015. Governments striving to increase enrollment, and improve female to male ratios, will necessarily need to confront the challenges of improving the allocation of scarce resources and the effective management of expenditures throughout their education systems.
Creative Associates International has developed a new tool, the National Education Accounts (NEA), to enable governments to measure financial flows in the education sector and compare their spending to policy directions. The NEA, adapted from National Health Accounts, maps the flow of funds from sources to uses, providing vital information on whether a nation is meeting its goals for education. With funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, Creative has implemented the NEA in countries as diverse as Morocco and Nigeria at the national level and at the state level, known as the State Education Accounts.
A unique tool, the NEA gathers information on all spending, from public, private and donor sources. The data derived from a relational database specifically designed for the NEA provides information in a way previously not readily available to public officials; it also identifies system-wide inequities and allows for a complete understanding of funding impact. With sustainability in mind, Creative trains in-country professionals to implement the NEA, from data gathering to manipulating the database and analyzing information.
NEA in Morocco
Creative assisted the Moroccan government in applying the NEA tool to their education system in 2005. The major finding of that NEA study was that total expenditures in education were almost twice the amount estimated previously. The government provided about 60 percent of those resources and families and private foundations provided the rest even though the public schools were free. Poor and rural families bore a heavy burden because of the high cost of transporting students to schools and contributed to the higher drop-out rates in the rural areas. Morocco was the first nation to use the NEA methodology.
NEA Adapted for Nigeria’s Kano and Zamfara States as a State Education Account (SEA)
In Kano, Nigeria’s most populous state, Creative adapted the NEA from a national undertaking to a State Education Account assisting the Kano state education officials to obtain critical information on total government expenditures on education including federal, state and local governments as well as private contributions from investors and households. The SEA was then implemented in Zamfara State and Creative assisted Zamfara education officials to analyze education financing flows. While Kano spent a significantly larger percentage of their State budget on education, Zamfara spent three times as much per child. The findings from Zamfara and Kano have led to a study of non-formal, Islamic education in both states. In addition, Kano state officials are now expanding the information obtained from SEA to gather data on basic education expenditures and forecast the cost of meeting EFA goals by 2015.
NEA Builds Capacity
Based on a systematic method for capacity building, the NEA not only provides essential information on the sources and uses of resources, but the process also enables ministries of education and finance to understand financial flows better and to be able to complete NEAs on a permanent, periodic basis.
For more information about Creative Associates and the National Education Accounts, please contact Technical Director Phyllis Forbes at [email protected][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-primary”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
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The Education for ALL (EFA) initiative has led governments worldwide to attempt systemic reforms that will enable them to ensure universal primary education by 2015. Governments striving to increase enrollment, and improve female to male ratios, will necessarily need to confront the challenges of improving the allocation of scarce resources and the effective management of expenditures throughout their education systems.
Creative Associates International has developed a new tool, the National Education Accounts (NEA), to enable governments to measure financial flows in the education sector and compare their spending to policy directions. The NEA, adapted from National Health Accounts, maps the flow of funds from sources to uses, providing vital information on whether a nation is meeting its goals for education. With funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, Creative has implemented the NEA in countries as diverse as Morocco and Nigeria at the national level and at the state level, known as the State Education Accounts.
A unique tool, the NEA gathers information on all spending, from public, private and donor sources. The data derived from a relational database specifically designed for the NEA provides information in a way previously not readily available to public officials; it also identifies system-wide inequities and allows for a complete understanding of funding impact. With sustainability in mind, Creative trains in-country professionals to implement the NEA, from data gathering to manipulating the database and analyzing information.
NEA in Morocco
Creative assisted the Moroccan government in applying the NEA tool to their education system in 2005. The major finding of that NEA study was that total expenditures in education were almost twice the amount estimated previously. The government provided about 60 percent of those resources and families and private foundations provided the rest even though the public schools were free. Poor and rural families bore a heavy burden because of the high cost of transporting students to schools and contributed to the higher drop-out rates in the rural areas. Morocco was the first nation to use the NEA methodology.
NEA Adapted for Nigeria’s Kano and Zamfara States as a State Education Account (SEA)
In Kano, Nigeria’s most populous state, Creative adapted the NEA from a national undertaking to a State Education Account assisting the Kano state education officials to obtain critical information on total government expenditures on education including federal, state and local governments as well as private contributions from investors and households. The SEA was then implemented in Zamfara State and Creative assisted Zamfara education officials to analyze education financing flows. While Kano spent a significantly larger percentage of their State budget on education, Zamfara spent three times as much per child. The findings from Zamfara and Kano have led to a study of non-formal, Islamic education in both states. In addition, Kano state officials are now expanding the information obtained from SEA to gather data on basic education expenditures and forecast the cost of meeting EFA goals by 2015.
NEA Builds Capacity
Based on a systematic method for capacity building, the NEA not only provides essential information on the sources and uses of resources, but the process also enables ministries of education and finance to understand financial flows better and to be able to complete NEAs on a permanent, periodic basis.
For more information about Creative Associates and the National Education Accounts, please contact Technical Director Phyllis Forbes at [email protected][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-primary”][/vc_column][/vc_row]