In Morocco, although overall access to education has increased over recent decades and many girls are now pursuing their education, such advances have not occurred in rural villages where 87% of females are still illiterate (UNESCO, 2012). The current research aims to explore the main barriers to girls’ education in three rural Berber villages in Morocco’s High Atlas Mountains. Additionally, this study investigates the intervention of an NGO to reduce these barriers and assist girls in the pursuit of this goal. The study is informed by a post-colonial analysis of the influences of colonialism in former colonised countries, the post-colonial feminist theory of gender inequality and the capability approach as a framework within which to discuss girls’ functioning and well-being within the educational setting. A qualitative approach was deemed appropriate for this study, effected through semi-structured interviews conducted with seven NGO staff, six female students, six dropout schoolgirls, and eighteen parents of learners and dropouts to understand their perceptions and attitudes with regards to the main barriers to school-age girls, and their perceptions and attitudes concerning NGO interventions in rural Berber villages of the High Atlas Mountains. The participants’ views are presented and analysed thematically, guided by Braun and Clarke's (2006) guidelines with the support of NVivo 10 software. The results of the study highlight key themes including financial, socio-cultural, familial, geographical and, school-based barriers that hinder schoolgirls from pursuing their education. Furthermore, the study offers important insights into the various services and facilities provided by this NGO to support rural girls to pursue their education through the provision of boarding houses, transport, tutorials, and extra-curricular activities to enhance girls’ capabilities and to change social gender norms. In light of the findings of this research, several recommendations are made including further research and a call to policymakers, government officials, and representatives of the Moroccan Ministry of Education to plan rational educational reforms to support and encourage school-age girls to complete their education in marginalised rural villages.
