School Trip to Morocco

[Goldsand]

My DDs secondary school have just announced they will be doing a school trip in the next school year to Morocco for my daughters year.

It’s normally Iceland but they have changed it to Morocco this time.

A couple of other mums have said they won’t be sending their kids as they don’t think it’s safe to send their teen girls there.

Iv never been personally but I thought it was a safe country overall.

However, now I’m doubting myself …. I was going to agree to her going even though i think it’s steep as it’s over £1,000.

So…

YABU - It’s safe, don’t worry about it.
YANBU - I would never send my teen child there on a school trip.

I was initially torn on this one, as one of the best trips of my life was 5 weeks overlanding around Morocco, with Marrakesh, the Atlas mountains and camping in the desert being among the top highlights. And the food, the people, the architecture...

However, much as I hope my kids will one day be able to explore as much óf the world as I did, many places, including sadly much of North Africa, are considered far higher risk now than 15-20 years ago (and I say this as someone who more than once had to delay crossing a border into a country while the FCO temporarily advised against all travel due to attempted coups, and also toured an almost deserted Egypt with heavy military presence not long after one of the terrorist attacks). Taking calculated risks as an adult in order to see fascinating places is completely different to trusting a third party to do that for your child.

Even if the school was confident about ensuring everyone's safety (and if part of their strategy is that a couple of the adults speak good French, I would question how helpful that will be anyway outside of Marrakesh) I personally think Y8 is too young to get much out of such a short sharp culture shock, trying to fit three such different experiences into 5-day trip makes it a box-ticking exercise, and it's also very expensive for a school trip!

I work on worst case scenarios, so before I let any of my children go away with school, or with friends I consider if they would be safe if they were alone with no money and no phone. I would suggest that in the UK or most English speaking countries they would be fine because they could ask for help and assess who to ask fairly confidently, police, security, hotel front desk etc. If they were in a European country and had a very basic vocabulary, I would be fairly confident they'd get help and work out where to go to be safe. I would be less confident in Morocco, even though they speak French and have been to other African countries with relatives. I would worry the cultural differences would make them less confident and possibly more likely to put themselves unknowingly in danger. I would be less worried if they looked like younger children because I think most people have a natural instinct to protect little ones.

Having been to Morocco about ten years ago, I didn't feel safe at all, even in the hotel. I've travelled a lot usually alone from the age of 16 and I've been in some potentially risky situations and still felt safer.

If my daughter really wanted to go and felt safe with her teachers, I would most likely let her because worst case scenarios rarely happen. I would, however be looking on Google maps with her for places which looked safe, if she needed help, making sure she knew emergency numbers etc.

As an aside, vaccinations for Morocco used to be recommended, you might want to check if this is still the case.

I think we'd find something else to do as a family with that money, instead. It's not a place I'd be inclined to visit, though I imagine a guided tour would most likely be safe enough.

Morocco is a bloody brilliant country. I have just returned from one of my regular trips and I would have no hesitation sending my child on the itinerary you posted and on an organised trip. I have travelled as a single woman there from the age of twenty, never had a problem. I have visited Eygpt and Tunisia and found them far worse and I would not choose to return to either country.

Gibraltar with a day trip to Morocco would be better imo.....I wouldn't be able to afford £1k either!! ......year 8 is very young and I've heard a lot of negatives about Morocco so would constantly be worrying!! Xx

I think Morocco is beautiful and I support the idea of widening kids' horizons to other cultures.

But this trip is staggeringly unfair.

Girls risk being harassed.
Girls are likely to find the squat toilets quite tricky.
Girls on their periods are likely to find squat toilets even more tricky.
Gay children, or children who are discovering that about themselves would need to closet themselves.
And black children may find they're treated quite differently than their lighter skinned friends.

Then there's the issue of food poisoning.

I could understand if this was a university trip but cannot see why children/teens need to be exposed to this.

Can you imagine puking and shitting your guts out on a school trip? When you're moving between places and camping?! Sitting on a bumpy bus ride clenching your butt cheeks so you don't soul yourself honestly isn't fun.

I'm struggling to figure out why the teachers involved even want to be. Is there a Moroccan teacher? That would make a difference at least. But it can't be because they're looking for sun, because the risks and responsibilities (huge even in a trip to London) are surely so high they outweigh any rays of sunlight.

I've lived in North Africa and cannot figure out why it's necessary for kids to do this trip. Plenty of other places they could go to and not run these risks.

*soil yourself

My old private girls’ school in the US is also planning at trip to Morocco. It’s just inappropriate because it’s filthy, expensive, misogynistic, and dangerous. I didn’t see a desert until thirty, and was not impressed. If some of these students are traveling for the first time, it would be far better if they camped in a familiar climate. I’d rather go to Hell. At least I’d run into people I know, including relatives.
Yes, London and Liverpool are dangerous places. However, everyone speaks English, HM is on the money, and the culture more familiar

24 years ago- yes

Now? Hell no

I was being sarcastic

I have been to Morocco, visiting Casablanca, Fes and Marrakesh, as part of a group, and never felt 'unsafe'. However, I am not a young teenage girl.
Also £1k is rather a lot of money.
I would probably want to see the itinerary, and educational value of the trip.
However, have more recently come to the conclusion that teachers should stick to teaching, and leave these kind of school trips to families.
So my reason for declining the trip, would be because of cost; that this could prevent you as a parent undertaking a nice family holiday to a destination of your own choosing.

Daretodenim, they have modern toilets 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.

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

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.

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.

Oops meant to reply to another post

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.

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 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?

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 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?

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’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.

@Ericaequites 😂👏🏼👏🏼