School Trip to Morocco

This too. Good luck being blonde or a redhead especially, there’s an assumption you are, to put politely, a bayieat hawaa or p*rn worker.
it’s ok to grab you as you are used to it and enjoy it. It’s a very widespread mindset.

Re. the squat toilets, I mean the ones you encounter outside the hotels, nicer restaurants, and tourist areas. No tiles or porcelain, usually just a shit filled hole in the ground, roaches and rats and pissed soaked cement or dirt floor. Try convincing a group of 13 year olds to use those on the road.

But not everyone is in crisis, and it’s not compulsory

I think it's ridiculous of the school to do this in the middle of a Cost of Living crisis

I went to Morrocco and back packed all around the country back in 2005 with another woman, it was absolutely fine. I've been flashed at in France!

I have also been as a family in 2018 and stayed in a riad in Marrakesh and my girls had a fabulous experience.

I don't recognise the comments being made here. You can't say, I had problems in Egypt, therefore I wouldn't go to Morrocco!

£1000 though, I'm pretty sure my 2018 trip cost about that for 4 people, but then prices have gone up a lot.

They ran the £3.5k one to Costa Rica at dds school. Hardly anyone went on it teens just want to be where their mates are so they didn’t care that they couldn’t go as none of their friends were either!

I wouldn't personally. Not because its Morocco (lovely place, I have been many times) or because she is female. But I would not send my children abroad without a parent in Y8. And I would not, out of principle endorse a school activity that cost that much.

Some of the prices of school trips mentioned in this thread are shocking. £3.5k?! How can they justify running these trips? It seems so divisive and exclusionary.

*especially foreign females whom they see as devoid of any of the restrictions, controls and values of their culture's females.

Exactly.

Is that poster really going to pretend different regions and countries don't have different cultures that lead to different treatment of women & public behaviour?
There's a scale, with random exceptions as there always are. As a rule cultures that give women few rights or freedom are generally those that have the worst harassment of females.

Love that mothers of girl teens are now being accused as the ones beIng sexist! Take it up with the vile abusive men not our fault. Must be lovely to exist in a pc woke bubble but back in the real world…

To counter, I think even though lots of us on this thread have suggested that it’s not a trip we would allow our children to go on, it is a fact that there are LOTS of western tourist agencies everywhere in Morocco , with super experienced tour guides that have organised these trips safely thousands of times. The trips to the Atlas in particular , are very popular and I have known lots of girl guiding/ school trips there in recent years. Presumably these trips are hugely profitable for the organisers, as I’ve known plenty of trips where teens are encouraged to work in building infrastructure (building walls etc) where the cost to parents runs to several thousands. I’m certain Morocco is not short of cheap skilled labourers/ craftsmen so it’s a mystery why middle class British teenagers are needed for these tasks.
For me personally I’d worry mostly about extreme food poisoning and not being able to be with a teen who was hospitalised and may deteriorate quickly without good communication.
For anyone interested in travelling in Morocco I’d recommend Alice Morrison’s brilliant books , and her podcast about her experiences in Morocco.

one local school is arranging a trip to CostaRica at a cost of £3.5k!! Thank god my child doesn’t go there!

@Ericaequites 😂👏🏼👏🏼

I’ve been to Morocco many times, it’s beautiful, I love it, and I can’t remember ever using a squat toilet or having food poisoning.

But the reason I wouldn’t let my teenage daughter go is the overwhelming amount of hassle. I first went as a teenager and didn’t go back for many years because I was so freaked out.

The only circumstances under which I’d let a teenage girl go would be if we were with a trusted local at all times who could see off the chancers.

Mine went on a similar trip but she was 16. This was before Covid. I was surprised at the choice of destination as I work in a school and know all the risk assessments that need to take place - but the geography team were all lovely and I trusted them. There were a couple of hairy moments - transport related, rather than sexual attention actually - but she survived and found the whole experience and environment mind-blowing (had never left Europe before).

I also think people saying "I would never let me daughter go on a school trip" and displaying some internal sexism too - why deny your daughters such an important life experience?

It's a ridiculous idea. I think a lot of school trips are based on where the teachers would like to visit and they concoct reasoning why it would make a good school trip so they can get paid for going there - yes I realise that teachers have a lot of responsibility on school trips and it's right that they get paid for doing them but going to Morocco in the current climate is a ridiculous idea.

I wouldn't send children of either sex to somewhere they need hired security guards to prevent them from being hassled, assaulted, robbed or otherwise taken advantage of. Why would you?

I would save the £1k and you and dd go to Iceland with it. You can get cheap flights and stay in a cheap hotel if you're worried about money. The geography in Iceland is like nothing else on earth.

I wouldn't risk my young dd being sexually harassed and assaulted in morocco. Imagine something was done to her and you were thousands of miles away?

I’m surprised toilets are even featuring as a reason not to allow a child to go! Safety and constant hassle - yes, factors to consider. Horrible toilets? No. You’d never go anywhere if this was enough to put you off. They’re regularly encountered in Italy IME, so that’s another place scratched off the list.

Oops meant to reply to another post

That is a scam, been to Morocco around 3 years ago. A local will tell you that you are in a dangerous area and lead you further away- sometimes to a friends restaurant, or paid entry tourism spot, or just enough to get you lost. Then once you are actually lost- they request payment to take you back.
for the OP- it’s a no from me, culturally very interesting yes, but you certainly have to have your wits about you far more than most other places.
women/ teens are cat called, I was followed on occasion, marrakech Is a crazy choice for kids on a school trip, this trip is V overpriced and not safe IMHO.

Yes, as a mother of expat kids in this region, they go on school trips. BUT they are in much smaller groups with a higher teacher to student ratio, the trips are a lot more expensive than £1k as they have high end stays and activities, and most importantly they have AR speaking staff to navigate everything, in addition to the kids knowing AR themselves.

Even so, Morocco is off the list, as is Egypt and Iran. Trips tend to be in the Emirates for camping, Doha, Bahrain, Jordan. All much more safer for women.

Agreed. I've had to use a squat toilet in France more recently than in Morocco!

I live in the MENA reason and think this is a terrible school trip idea for teen girls.

I’m comfortable with basic Arabic and know how to stand my ground ie tell them to F off, but I find Marrakech, Fez, and especially Casablanca very hard work, and only go when necessary as I find it worse than Egypt or Pakistan for unwanted male attention.
Pickpockets are rife, brazen and very clever in their techniques. Some are violent - we’ve had our private car boot opened at knifepoint.
Men will grab when they can, and I was so harassed by the “fast boys” when I was last in Fez that we hired a burly bloke to chaperone in the madina. I’ve had a man try to cut some of my hair off, and been flashed multiple times. The squat toilets are difficult to cope with, and can be unsafe due to lack of locks.

You can guarantee that students on this trip will be exposed to some kind of unwanted touch, assault, or violation if they are travelling without a very switched on AR man. I would keep her home and use the money for a trip later, maybe take one of her friends.