A number of children live in the villages of Beni Tidget, in the Fakik region (eastern Morocco), outside the education system, despite the various plans put in place by the government to universalize education and make it compulsory until the age of 16 years.

Malika, a resident of the area, told Al-Jazeera Net that the school is several kilometers away from the families who live in mud houses scattered and far apart, so they refrain from sending their children, especially girls, to it, and for those who braved the distance and were fortunate enough to sit on the school bench, their path ends In the preparatory level.

This citizenship expects that the justifications of some families will end after the authorities provide free school transportation for the pupils, but she adds that other families will not hesitate to prevent their daughters from completing their preparatory education in the dormitories established for the purpose of bringing students closer to school, because they prefer to marry them at an early age.

The concern of the educational actors increases due to the number of those who drop out of school, especially the preparatory and secondary levels, despite the efforts made to stop this bleeding.

And the Ministry of Education decided to resort to the judiciary in the face of families who deprive their sons and daughters of their right to education, and it finally signed an agreement with the Presidency of the Public Prosecution in this regard.

Minister Saeed Amzazi explained - in a meeting with educational officials - that this step is based on the constitution, considering that the responsibility for students' access to school rests with the families and the state, so he says, “We signed a partnership with the Presidency of the Public Prosecution, and if a family refuses to take their son to school, we can resort (To) local authorities and then to the judiciary. "

Second Chance School for School dropouts (Al-Jazeera)

Families' responsibility

The number of those who dropped out of school last season amounted to more than 300,000 students, according to official data, including 160,000 in lower secondary education, which is a high number compared to previous seasons. During the 2017-2018 school season, about 222,000 pupils at the elementary and preparatory levels left education, 183 Alpha in the prep.

These figures leave open questions in view of the reforms that the education and training system has witnessed years ago, and the programs launched by governments to combat school dropout.

Nour al-Din al-Akouri, head of the National Federation of Pupils' Mothers, Fathers and Guardians Associations, says that the framework law for education and training includes legislative texts that regulate relations between all components of the educational institution, including the family.

He added - in an interview with Al Jazeera Net - that parents' associations demand on every occasion the ministry to provide all conditions and capabilities to enable all children to have their right to education, and likewise they demand families to assume their responsibilities in registering their children in schools and ensuring the completion of compulsory education.

He pointed out that the Ministry of Education's threatening to resort to the judiciary in the face of families - who prevent their children from education - is a procedure that falls within their duty stipulated in the general law, and in the interest of the student and his right, which is guaranteed by national and international conventions.

He pointed out that some children want to continue their studies, but their families refuse, under the pretext of social and economic conditions, and their dependence on the child to provide additional income, and sometimes there is a split within the family that the child pays for by depriving him of his right to education.

various programs

In the past years, the Ministry of Education launched a number of programs to combat school dropout, including distributing one million wallets to students, providing school transportation services and bicycles to students, establishing male and female student homes and boarding houses to accommodate those far from school, and school feeding and conditional material support for the benefit of needy families.

It also launched - in coordination with civil society in a number of cities - Second Chance Schools, which are open to students who have dropped out of education and expressed their desire to return to school seats and other programs.

Al-Akouri believes that - given the multiple programs launched by the government and the budgets allocated to it - these numbers of school dropouts should not be recorded, and he warned that the country will face a new generation of illiterate children and youth at a time when it is still struggling to overcome the problem of illiteracy of adults and the elderly.

He expected that the hint of suing families might make them assume their responsibilities and prevent them from violating the right of their children to complete their education, especially the compulsory stage.

Second Chance School for those who drop out of school, to give them a new study opportunity (Al-Jazeera)

Address the causes first

Abd al-Samad al-Zayani, president of the Moroccan Association for the Fight against School Lacking, believes that the multiple and accumulated causes of school dropout must be resolved before resorting to the courts and the judiciary.

In his view, the judiciary deals with the issue from a purely legal standpoint, and cannot address the economic and social causes that stumble into families whose children drop out of school.

He pointed out that some representatives of the authorities intervene amicably and voluntarily to urge parents to register their children in school, and to overcome the difficulties that prevent them from doing so, especially during the campaigns for registration, the beginning of the educational seasons, which are the campaigns for which the agents of the authority recruit, and this work may bear more fruits than the litigation process .

According to Al-Zayani, the programs launched by the various governments to prevent school dropout are important, and the budgets allocated to them are large, but they face challenges and problems in implementing them on the ground and directing them to benefit those who deserve them.

Faced with the failure of the announced government plans to reach 100% in universal education, and to keep students in their schools for at least 16 years of age, the question remains urgent: Will the judiciary be the last medicine with which the Kingdom addresses the complex phenomenon of school dropout, or will it complicate it?