morocco---Education

Education

Main article: Education in Morocco

See also: List of universities in Morocco

Education in Morocco is free and compulsory through primary school (age 12). The country's illiteracy rate has been stuck at around 50% for some years, with male literacy at 65.7% and female at 39.6%.^[62] On September 2006, UNESCO awarded Morocco amongst other countries such as Cuba, Pakistan, Rajasthan (India) and Turkey the "UNESCO 2006 Literacy Prize".^[63]
Morocco has about 230,000 students enrolled in fourteen public universities. The Mohammed V University in Rabat and Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane (a public university) are highly regarded. Al-Akhawayn, founded in 1993 by King Hassan II and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, is an English-language American-style university comprising about 1,000 students. The University of Al Karaouine, in Fez, is considered the oldest continuously operating university in the world and has been a center of learning for more than 1,000 years.
Morocco allocates approximately one fifth of its budget to education. Much of this is spent on building schools to accommodate the rapidly growing population. Education is mandatory for children between the ages of 7 and 13 years. In urban areas the majority of children in this age group attend school, though on a national scale the level of participation drops significantly. About three fourths of school age males attend school, but only about half of school age girls; these proportions drop markedly in rural areas. Slightly more than half of the children go on to secondary education, including trade and technical schools. Of these, few seek higher education. Poor school attendance, particularly in rural areas, has meant a low rate of literacy, which is about two fifths of the population.
Morocco has more than four dozen universities, institutes of higher learning, and polytechnics dispersed at urban centres throughout the country. Its leading institutions include Muḥammad V University in Rabat, the country’s largest university, with branches in Casablanca and Fès; the Hassan II Agriculture and Veterinary Institute in Rabat, which conducts leading social science research in addition to its agricultural specialties; and Al-Akhawayn University in Ifrane, the first English-language university in North Africa,^[64] inaugurated in 1995 with contributions from Saudi Arabia and the United States. The University of Al-Karaouine or Al-Qarawiyyin is a university located in Fes. It is considered the oldest continuously operating academic degree-granting university in the world.
Morocco has also some of prestigious Postgraduate Schools like : L'École Mohammadia d'ingénieurs, l'Institut national de statistique et d'économie appliquée, l'École nationale d'industrie minérale, l'École Hassania des travaux publics, l'Institut supérieur de commerce et d'administration des entreprises, ENCG (écoles nationales de commerce et de gestion), EST (écoles supérieures de technologie).^[65]