Reading literacy is gaining more worldwide interest as an important contributor to the development of human language and understanding of the world. In international education, where reading has become one of the main subjects in the field of assessment, the fact that reading is highly valued, which is demonstrated in a series of international assessments of reading literacy such as Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), Progress International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), and National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
Morocco, a North African country with a rich history and diverse culture, faces significant challenges in its education system, particularly concerning illiteracy. Despite progress in recent years, illiteracy remains a pressing issue, hindering the country's overall development. According to UNESCO, the literacy rate in Morocco is 73%, with a 66% literacy rate for women and a 79% literacy rate for men. Although this is an improvement from previous years, there is still a significant disparity between urban and rural areas, with rural areas having lower literacy rates.
Zineb El Adaoui, President of Morocco’s Court of Accounts, described the country’s illiteracy rate as “unsatisfactory” during a parliamentary session on Wednesday. The number of registered learners grew from 674,000 in the 2014-2015 academic year to 852,000 in 2022-2023, an average annual increase of 4.1%.
A lot of people are still illiterate in our society and we are all responsible for putting an end to this situation. To sum up, there is no development while ignorance is spreading.
Understanding Reading Literacy
The term ‘reading literacy’ originated from a study conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of School Achievement in 1991, which expanded the definition of reading skills to include the ability to reflect on and adopt reading as a tool for personal and social purposes (Elley, 1992). PISA 2018 defined reading literacy as understanding, using, evaluating, reflecting on, and engaging with texts in order to achieve one’s goals, develop one’s knowledge and potential, and participate in society (OECD, 2019). The emphasis of the PISA 2018 reading assessment is not to test whether students are capable of reading professionally, but to focus on the constructive, expansive, and critically reflective skills that students apply in the process of reading in order to make meaning from text or to interact with texts. In the present study, the definition of reading literacy used in PISA 2018 was adopted for the exploration of how certain factors affect reading literacy.
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Statistical Overview of Illiteracy
The study highlights that, despite these differences, global literacy is generally very high. Additionally, the study revealed that nearly two-thirds of illiterate adults worldwide are females. Over 75% of illiterate adults live in South and West Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. It also pointed out that there are 8 countries, including Chad, Mali, South Sudan, Botswana, and Afghanistan, where literacy rates are less than 40%.
Factors Contributing to Illiteracy in Morocco
Many Moroccan people are illiterate for different reasons. To start with, in the near past people didn’t have a chance to attend school either because the school was far from them, or because of their parents disapproval. A lot of parents do not yet recognize the importance of education. Hence, many of them still refuse to allow their children especially girls to go to school. Others also believed that education is going to destroy their daughter’s morals, and as a result, the society will have a bad image for them.
Experts today still question the wisdom of this Arabization policy-at least in the form it finally took in Morocco. As noted previously, MSA has limited mutual intelligibility with darija. Its use in learning materials for nearly all subjects in public schools, beginning in preschool, forces students to learn how to read and write in an almost unintelligible language. Many experts believe that MSA’s prominence in Morocco’s education system accounts for the country’s shockingly high rates of illiteracy.
Several factors contribute to the persistence of illiteracy in Morocco:
- Poverty: Poverty is a key factor preventing children from getting an education, as many families send their children to work instead of school. Material reasons are another factor which contributes to people’s illiteracy. Many families are poor and so they decide not to send their children to school as they can’t afford to deal with today’s increasing demands of education.
- Gender Inequality: More girls are also obliged to leave school with a view to making it possible for their father to have enough money for the education of their brothers, as the parents think that the son has more priority to schooling than the girl who will get to have a husband and set a family at any cases. Gender inequality is a significant challenge in Morocco’s education system. While the government has made progress in promoting girls’ education, there is still a significant gender gap in enrollment and achievement. According to a report by UNESCO, the primary school net enrollment rate for girls in Morocco is 87%, compared to 93% for boys.
- Access to Education: While education is compulsory in Morocco, many children, particularly those in rural areas, do not have access to education. According to a report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), about 200,000 Moroccan children between the ages of 7 and 13 are not enrolled in school.
- Quality of Education: One of the most pressing challenges facing Morocco’s education system is the quality of education. Many Moroccan students struggle with basic reading and writing skills, which leads to high dropout rates and low achievement levels. The lack of quality education is partly due to the shortage of qualified teachers, particularly in rural areas. According to a report by the Moroccan Ministry of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education, and Scientific Research, there is a shortage of over 60,000 teachers in the country. Additionally, the teaching methods used in Moroccan schools are often outdated and rely heavily on rote learning and memorization.
Studying Literacy in Morocco
Factors Predicting Reading Literacy
A large number of studies have shown that students’ reading literacy is influenced by numerous factors. Traditionally, reading literacy studies have been divided into two categories: one has explored the influence of a specific factor on reading literacy whereas the other combined two or more factors to explore the joint and interactive effects of these different influences on reading literacy.
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Students’ reading literacy, when considered as an expression of achievement, is inevitably influenced by both cognitive and non-cognitive factors. For example, a large body of research has cast light on the impact of gender on reading. Strong correlations between scores on reading meta-cognition and reading ability have been demonstrated, and meta-cognitive strategies, such as understanding and remembering, summarizing, and assessing credibility, have been found to have specific and strong effects on on-line reading comprehension.
The family environment is of course one of the most important for students as they mature and have been shown to be a key factor influencing their physical and mental development, and the effect of family on students’ reading literacy cannot be ignored. Studies have shown that students’ socio-economic and cultural family background has a significant impact on reading literacy, and on student achievement as well.
As the primary place of learning, schools of course have an impact on students’ reading literacy. School location and type, according to socioeconomic status, play a role in students’ reading literacy. As shown in peer group effects, average school socio-economic and cultural backgrounds have a great impact on student academic achievement. Scores on reading instructional strategies were positively correlated with those on students’ reading literacy, indicating that comprehension at the macro-level has a significant impact on students’ reading literacy, and that collaboration among teachers is conducive to the implementation of reading instructional strategies.
Solutions and Strategies for Improving Literacy
For the sake of improving the conditions of education in our society and in order to decrease the rate of illiteracy, the Moroccan government has recently launched a new family code. This new law has restricted the conditions under which a girl can get married giving, therefore, more chances to girls to continue their education to later ages. Furthermore, now more and more primary and secondary schools have been built in remote areas, and this has allowed it very possible for girls to finish at least their secondary schooling. Another important factor that is contributing to the spread of people’s education is the big changes affecting people’s culture. Now, it’s no longer a shame when a girl goes to university or when she is in the middle of a group of boys at school.
To address these challenges, several strategies can be implemented:
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- Investing in Teacher Training: Investing in teacher training and professional development is one of the most critical solutions to Morocco’s education challenges. Additionally, the government should incentivize teachers to work in rural areas by providing them with better salaries, housing, and other benefits.
- Expanding Access to Education: To increase access to education in Morocco, the government should consider implementing policies that target children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The Moroccan government can also partner with non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders to expand access to education in rural areas.
- Updating Curriculum and Teaching Methods: To improve the quality of education in Morocco, the government must update the curriculum and teaching methods to align with the needs of the modern workforce. This could involve incorporating more practical skills, such as computer literacy, into the curriculum.
- Promoting Gender Equality: Morocco has made significant progress in promoting girls’ education, but there is still a gender gap in enrollment and achievement. The government can provide incentives for families to send their daughters to school, such as scholarships or subsidies.
- International Cooperation: International cooperation is crucial in addressing Morocco’s education challenges. Additionally, the Moroccan government can learn from the experiences of other countries that have successfully addressed similar education challenges.
The Role of Language
Morocco is a country with a unique culture and a multilingual populace, mainly due to its history and geographical position at the crossroads of sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, and Europe, and its proximity to the Middle East. The official languages of the country are Arabic and Amazigh. However, the mother tongue and community language spoken by most children is the local dialect Darija or regional variants of Amazigh. The characteristic feature of their language is diglossia, with one language used in formal education and the other used in daily communication. Amazigh has its own letters, and although it is recognized as an official language by the Moroccan Constitution, the method of its integration into schools, government offices, and society is under negotiation.
Morocco participated in PISA 2018 for the first time with Arabic as the test language. Its test results ranked relatively low, with even the highest-performing students scoring only around the OECD average. Moroccan students’ reading literacy is affected by individual, family, and school factors. Therefore, it is worth exploring the effects of multilingualism on students’ reading literacy in Morocco, where there are two official languages: Arabic and Amazigh.
Education as a Human Right
According to Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Everyone has the right to education.” The right to education is also recognized in several international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
Education ameliorates people’s lives, enhances their self-esteem, their ability to learn new things which will help them expand their knowledge, and their ability to cope with the majority of the society. It makes them self-confident and informed populace that can understand issues, represent themselves, and take responsibility.
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