Education is more than classrooms and textbooks. It is freedom, security, and the promise of a different life. Yet for millions of girls worldwide, especially in parts of Africa, this promise is cut short far too soon. This article explores how Morocco’s gender-focused education reforms are reshaping girls’ futures, and how their lessons can offer hope for countries like the Central African Republic (CAR) where girls still face daunting barriers to education everyday.

In Morocco, gender inequality in education once mirrored deep cultural, linguistic, and economic divides. Nearly half of Moroccan women were illiterate just a few years ago, while only a quarter of men were. In rural areas, girls often dropped out of school early to marry young or help at home. Long distances, safety concerns, and a lack of basic facilities like toilets made the journey to school a daily struggle.

Instead of accepting this reality, Morocco began rewriting it. The government, backed by local NGOs and international partners like UNICEF, focused not only on building schools but on removing the hidden barriers surrounding them. One breakthrough was achieved through the Dar Taliba boarding home program which offers safe residences for girls from remote villages to live in while attending school. These homes provide meals, beds, and security so that girls like Najia, a teenager from the High Atlas Mountains, can study without having to walk miles just to get to class. Because of this program, Najia now dreams of becoming a doctor and is living proof that when girls are supported, they don’t just survive, they excel.

Alongside Dar Taliba, Morocco’s Tayssir program offers conditional cash transfers to poor families if their children, especially daughters, attend school regularly. This echoes global best practices that help keep girls in classrooms instead of in fields or early marriages.

While Morocco’s progress is significant, challenges still remain. Language barriers persist for Amazigh-speaking girls when lessons are taught mostly in Arabic or French, a gap that UNESCO highlights as a commonly occurring global issue. Cultural expectations also linger. Even though the legal marriage age was raised from 15 to 18 in 2004, weak enforcement of the change has meant that thousands of underage girls still leave school for marriage every year.

So, what does this mean for the Central African Republic? In CAR, girls face similar or even harsher barriers to school attendance like conflict, poverty, long travel distances, and deep-rooted gender norms. Nearly half of girls never complete primary school, and early marriage is widespread, especially in rural regions that have been displaced by conflict. Many families pull girls from class to fetch water, care for siblings, or marry young to ease financial burdens.

Yet, Morocco’s experience proves that this cycle can be broken. Imagine if CAR invested in boarding homes like the Dar Taliba program near remote villages, or if poor families received small but life-changing payments to keep their daughters in school like Tayssir. These ideas are not expensive luxuries; they are practical investments proven to work when combined with community involvement and cultural awareness.

Another lesson from Morocco is the power of language and identity. Morocco’s struggle with Amazigh-speaking students shows that education works best when it respects local languages. In CAR, many children speak Sango or local dialects, but schools often teach in French. Adapting lessons to the children’s mother tongues can reduce dropout rates and build trust with parents, a strategy strongly supported by UNESCO.

Morocco’s journey to close its gender gap in education holds a vital lesson for other nations struggling with a similar issue. Progress comes not only from policies and funding but from listening to girls and transforming the systems around them. From safe boarding houses to cash transfers, Morocco’s model shows that big change often starts with small, targeted steps that put girls at the center. For the Central African Republic, embracing similar community-led, culturally sensitive solutions could help rewrite thousands of girls’ stories, unlocking futures that today feel far out of reach for them.

Benicia Sephora Zouma Infeïna is a student at the University of Virginia and an Intern at the High Atlas Foundation in Morocco.