Internet Access and Educational Justice in Morocco: When the Digital Divide Becomes a Learning Divide

BY FATIMA OUFQUER

The internet is no longer merely a means of communication or entertainment. It has become one of the essential conditions that enable learners to access knowledge, search for information, and develop their skills. As digital resources become increasingly integrated into school and university life, an important question arises in Morocco: do all learners have equal opportunities to benefit from these possibilities, or is the digital divide creating new boundaries between those who can learn with extensive resources and those who face additional barriers?

Promoting educational justice means more than simply guaranteeing the right to schooling. It also requires ensuring the conditions that make this right meaningful and accessible to everyone. While technology opens new pathways to learning, the absence of adequate conditions for using it may turn it into a factor that reinforces social and geographical inequalities rather than reducing them.

According to the 2024 annual survey on household and individual access to and use of information and communication technologies, conducted by Morocco’s National Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (ANRT), 89.2% of Moroccan households had internet access in 2024. The rate stood at 93.6% in urban areas, against 78.4% in rural areas.

These figures demonstrate significant progress in connectivity, while also revealing a persistent gap of roughly 15 percentage points between urban and rural areas. More importantly, the proportion of households connected to the internet does not necessarily mean that all their members, including school pupils and university students, have equal opportunities to benefit from it.

Having an internet connection is one thing; being able to use it effectively for learning is another. A household may have internet access, yet its children may have to share a single smartphone or lack a suitable computer for conducting research and preparing presentations. The connection may also be unstable or limited, making it difficult to attend online lessons and access educational resources.

Relying solely on general connectivity indicators may therefore provide an incomplete picture of a reality with important educational and social dimensions. The question is not simply how many Moroccan households have internet access, but how learners use that access, how reliable it is, and under what conditions they can benefit from it.

Digital resources offer important opportunities to extend learning beyond the classroom. Learners can access additional explanations, a wide range of references, video lessons, and educational platforms that help them review what they have learned and develop their knowledge according to their individual needs.

However, these opportunities do not automatically translate into equal educational outcomes. Benefiting from them requires suitable devices, a reliable internet connection, the ability to search for and evaluate information, and an environment conducive to concentration and study. These conditions are not equally available to all households.

This reveals one of the central paradoxes of digital transformation: technology can expand learning opportunities, but without equitable policies, it may also extend existing inequalities. A learner with access to a computer, a reliable connection, and an appropriate study environment is not in the same position as one who must share a smartphone with siblings or struggles with poor connectivity.

This does not mean that every learner who lacks these resources is destined to struggle academically, nor that technology is the only factor determining educational success. Learning outcomes are influenced by several factors, including teaching quality, family support, and socioeconomic circumstances. Nevertheless, ignoring the digital dimension means overlooking one of the conditions that increasingly shape learners’ ability to access and benefit from knowledge.

From this perspective, educational equity should not be understood merely as providing everyone with the same resources. It should mean ensuring that every learner has the conditions necessary to benefit from those resources in practice.

Digital equity must not be reduced to providing internet access and devices. Physical access is an essential first step, but it is not enough on its own to guarantee quality learning.

Learners need digital skills that enable them to distinguish reliable information from misleading content, conduct structured research, use digital tools responsibly, and transform the information they encounter online into knowledge they can understand and apply. They also need educational guidance that helps them use technology to develop critical thinking and independence rather than simply consume content passively.

Schools also have an important responsibility in this regard. Digital transformation should not amount to merely adding technology to existing teaching practices. It should be linked to clear pedagogical objectives, appropriate educational content, and support for both teachers and learners. Technology is not an end in itself; it is a tool that can improve learning when used appropriately.

Addressing digital educational equity therefore requires moving beyond the provision of connectivity towards ensuring meaningful participation and benefit. Who has the necessary resources? Who possesses the required skills? And who can turn the available resources into tangible learning progress?

If reducing the digital divide is essential to strengthening educational equity, the response cannot be limited to expanding internet coverage, important as that remains. What is needed is an integrated policy that brings together infrastructure, household affordability, training, and the quality of educational resources.

Connectivity in rural areas and places with inadequate coverage must continue to improve, with greater attention to service quality, reliability, and affordability. An unstable connection does not offer learners the same opportunities as a dependable one.

Access to digital devices also merits greater attention in educational policy. Having internet access at home does not guarantee that every learner has a suitable computer or device. It is therefore important to consider support mechanisms for low-income households, as well as adequately equipped school facilities that allow learners to use digital resources beyond regular class hours, within available resources.

Investment in teachers’ and learners’ digital and pedagogical skills is equally necessary. The objective should not simply be to teach people how to operate digital tools, but to help them use these tools effectively for research, analysis, communication, and educational projects.

Morocco should also develop digital learning resources that reflect the country’s context and the diverse needs of its learners, including materials that can be used when internet connectivity is limited. Providing resources that can be accessed offline when necessary could also help reduce the impact of technical barriers.

Furthermore, digital equity must be measured through indicators that go beyond the percentage of households connected to the internet. These indicators should include access to devices, connection quality, digital skills, the educational use of online resources, and disparities between geographical areas and socioeconomic groups. Without reliable data on these dimensions, it is difficult to identify those most in need of support or to assess the impact of existing programmes.

The future of education in Morocco depends not only on the extent to which technology is integrated into educational institutions, but also on the choices that guide this integration. Will digitalisation be treated simply as a form of technological modernisation, or will it become an opportunity to rethink how learning opportunities are distributed and how everyone can benefit from them?

Expanding internet access is necessary, but it is not the end of the journey. Educational justice requires ensuring that a family’s financial circumstances or place of residence do not become additional barriers to accessing knowledge. It also requires recognising that learners do not all begin from the same position and that achieving equity may demand greater support for those facing greater obstacles.

Technology should not replace schools or the role of teachers. Rather, it should serve as a tool for strengthening learning and expanding its possibilities. When integrated into an educational policy that takes social and geographical inequalities into account, it can help create new opportunities for learners. However, if access to its benefits is left entirely to individual and household resources, it may reproduce existing inequalities in a new digital form.

Ultimately, we should not ask only how many Moroccan households have internet access. We must also ask how many learners can turn that access into knowledge, skills, and genuine opportunities for success.

Educational justice in the digital age begins with universal access, but it can only be achieved when the benefits of that access are shared equitably.