Morocco Beats Gulf, Jordan and Egypt in English Proficiency

PERSISMA, Rabat – Moroccans demonstrate the highest English-language proficiency skills in the Middle East and North Africa region, according to the newest edition of Education First’s annual report on the matter.

The kingdom moved up from the “Very Low” to the “Law category after three consecutive years of being in the former category. The international rankings put Morocco in 44th place this year, compared to 52nd place in 2015.

The non-profit ranked 72 countries using test data collected from more than 950,000 adults around the world throughout 2015. Moroccans who took the test scored higher than those in the Gulf region, Jordan and Egypt – nations that use English as a second-language due to their local colonial history.

With a score of 49.86, which is five points higher than the international average, Moroccans also beat out Tunisia and Algeria – countries with heavy French influence leftover from the geopolitics of the past century.

Female participants from Morocco outscoredtheir male counterparts by four points – outpacing the regional average distribution of test scores by gender of 1.5 points in favor of women.

“Countries in the Middle East and North Africa are uniformly in the lowest proficiency bands, and in most MENA countries, English proficiency is not improving,” the report – which considers English to be a “basic requirement” in today’s global economy – added.

Libyan and Iraqi test takers scored the lowest on EF’s tests worldwide, taking the 71st and 72nd spots on the global list. (Zainab Calcuttawala)