Territorial Profiling of the Education System's Performance and Development's Sustainability in Draa Tafilalet Region (Morocco)

Abstract

Despite the plethoric literature on the education systems’ efficiency and its impact on sustainable development, issues of performance under specific conditions such as in the Moroccan rural contexts are still less studied. The questions of adapted scales to apprehend the education system’s efficiency are raised. Instead of apprehending indicators at a national or regional scale, it is suggested to analyze causality and key parameters at a more detailed scale (provincial or even local). The aims of this study are to apprehend the spatial and territorial differences of the education system’s efficiency using inputs, outputs, and causality in the provincial scale at Draa – Tafilalet region (Morocco). They are pertinent either to diagnose or to plan future education development and sustainability of local development. Official data collected from the General Census of Population and Habitat, the High Commissariat of Plan and the Regional academy of Education and Formation (Errachidia) are analyzed using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) coupled with the profiling approach based on plots of key parameter. Useful indicators to compare the spatial variability of education system’s efficiency in the studied provinces were produced and discussed. The five provinces of the region are considered as adapted Decision-Making Unit (DMU) in the study due to their power and competencies in the decision-making. The Data Envelopment Analysis approach coupled with key variables’ plots is significant to study the spatial differences of education efficiency and development sustainability. It shows evidence of weak education impacts among rural population in the recently created provinces such as Tineghir, Midelt and Zagora. Based on this criterion, Tineghir is ranked in the last position and needs special attention. Considering the importance of public investments in the recently created provinces, it is obvious that this factor is not sufficient to explain observed realities. Other factors such as the socioeconomic status of households, the population income and public equipment intervene. To obtain a better education efficiency and reinforce the development sustainability, the priorities presently given to increase enrolment should change. The content and quality of service and the impacts of the contextual factors on education should be considered.