According to Morocco’s Education Policy and Data Center 2015, 26 per cent of children between the ages of 15-24 receive no education while children who receive primary and secondary education have a completion percentage of 4 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively. In 2008 the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco launched the Tayssir Programme, a pilot cash transfer scheme designed to compliment free and compulsory primary education in order to provide students in rural areas with the assistance required to complete primary school. The Tayssir Programme is administered by the Higher Council of Education in co-ordination with the Moroccan Ministry of National Education (MNE) and is currently being implemented in 260 primary school sectors in rural areas.
The Tayssir Programme targets the parents of primary school children in select rural areas and is testing the effectiveness of conditional and unconditional transfers. Currently the pilot programme reaches 53,288 households and 93,536 primary school students. The pilot scheme entitles parents to receive MAD 80-100, or USD 22-27, per month for each child attending primary school and MAD 140, or USD 38, for each child in secondary school. Half of the pilot group receives the cash transfer on a conditional basis, based on student attendance, and the other half receives the transfer unconditionally. The Tayssir Programme has resulted in a 57 per cent reduction in school drop-out rates through the conditional cash transfer. Based on positive results from the pilot programme, the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco has already expanded the conditional programme to an additional 109,908 households, reaching 206,434 additional students. Together the pilot and regularised schemes reach approximately 300,000 students in rural areas.
While Morocco’s cash transfer scheme has been designed to compliment an existing universal education system, similar schemes can be very effective in increasing enrollment in countries with greater barriers to education, especially in rural areas. The Tayssir Programme is an important investment in the next generation and increases access to universal education in rural areas, forming an important part of the national social protection floor.
Further Reading:
Rebekka Grun (2011). Conditional Cash Transfers in Morocco, Program «Tayssir» (facilitate): Concept, Results & Success Factors. World Bank. End-of GAP Technical Symposium, 27th April 2011. Accessed from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTGENDER/Resources/336003-1306268700820/Rebekka_Grun_Tayssir_Morocco.pdf on December 2016.