Moroccan Education Weaknesses

From International Business Wiki

Morocco is a growing country and may be a location that certain businesses may want to pursue business ventures. But, there are several reasons why a business may not want to look to Morocco as a potential business stage. Of those reasons, education is one of the main factors that might keep international businesses out of the country, or at least not find significant reason to hire employees from that country at this time.

The first issue with education in Morocco is the fact that there is terribly low attendance in the schools. The key areas in which attendance is especially low are the rural areas. Those areas, as in any country, are ones that focus mainly on farming and relying on the land and their skills to provide for their families and to support their local villages. In these cases, scholastic education is not the main priority. One more reason that attendance is low is because there is historically low attendance from girls. The emphasis of domestic duties is instilled in girls from a very young age. Higher achievement and education are focused more on boys rather than both boys and girls. Those girls that do go to school tend not to go to the secondary level but return to domestic duties and care for their families. These factors lend to the low literacy rate of the country.

The literacy rate for Morocco is about fifty percent, and a majority of that percentage is taken up by males from urban areas. In turn, the adult literacy rate is low, which may discourage businesses from entering the country and hiring employees. Businesses want to keep their training expenses as low as they can and spending the money to educate employees and teach them how to read is not an expense that businesses care to have (Britanica.com).

In recent years Morocco has shifted their social behavior towards their Islamic roots and away from Western influences. An evidence of such is the steady enrollment in Quranic schools. These schools focus more on the traditions and religion of their country, and they take a classical approach to education. Their focus is not on business and the economy, especially in primary and secondary schools. The belief that traditions and religion are an important part of a child’s education is not faulty; however the business world wants employees that already have an educational background that includes some knowledge of business and economics. The more international businesses have to train their potential employees the less attractive that country looks as a potential source for employees. (jstor) Students that graduate from universities and other higher education institutions in the Arab world are lacking the practical business skills needed as well. Too many universities focus on non-English studies and turn out graduates that don’t know how to survive in a world that is becoming so Westernized (Cullen).

Morocco may be a model country for hardworking upright citizens, but what businesses are looking for are employees that are easy to train and that are cheap to do so. Morocco is making strides to educate its students in real world economics and business practices, but they do not rank high compared to places such as China where there is a big emphasis on technology and educating students on the business world.

Sources http://www.jstor.org/view/00207438/ap010090/01a00080/0 Gainful Employment. Cullen, Lisa Takevchi. Time Magazine 10/1/2007 p.66 http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-46584/Morocco