Study: Moroccan Girls in Catalonia Outperform Boys Academically, Bucking School Failure Trends

"The educational and professional situation of Moroccans living in Catalonia". This is the title of the study report presented and which shows the recorded gaps. School failure, linked to the lack of diplomas of the children of Moroccans living in Catalonia, is 66.9%. At the level of the natives, the rate is 36.5% and 42.2% among all foreign residents.

The study thus shows that girls are more successful in continuing their schooling than boys, after obtaining the ESO (Educación Secundaria Obligatoria). This determination of Moroccan girls is, notes Chaib, linked to a change in mentalities in Moroccan society in Catalonia. Becerra adds for his part that young people are pushed to leave school in order to enter the labor market.

The director of the study stated that there are variables for greater academic success, such as language. Faced with this situation, the president of the Ibn Battuta Foundation has called on Catalan society to make more efforts to integrate these young people into the education system so that they have equal opportunities.

A school reinforcement program implemented by the foundation in Aitona and Seròs (Lleida) has achieved some success; which, according to the newspaper La Vanguardia, has prompted parents to enroll in literacy classes.