Souq often used as in the Grand Socco and Petit Socco of Tangiers. In the sub-continent, a different corruption, 'chowk', is often used in place of souq. The term is often used generically to designate the market in any Western Asian city, but may also be used in Western cities, particularly those with a Muslim community. Documentary sources point to permanent marketplaces in Middle Eastern cities from as early as 550 BCE. A souq was originally an open-air marketplace. Historically, souqs were held outside cities at locations where incoming caravans stopped and merchants displayed their goods for sale. Souqs were established
Education in the Middle East and North Africa despite substantial efforts to build new schools or repair existing ones, classes may meet outdoors. Further attempts at raising literacy rates are being processed in the MENA region with a particular emphasis on educating women in rural areas where the level of illiteracy in general is high especially among females. According to the World Bank report in 1999, in the rural areas of Morocco, only one woman out of ten can read and write. The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization reported that over seventy-five million women and forty-five million men across the Middle East and North Africa region