On Friday morning, a 6-year-old girl walked down the street of Rabat, holding her mother’s hand as she stared in amazement at the crowded street, filled with kids like her.
It wasn’t too hard to notice the smile on her face when she spotted a young boy dressed in a beige shirt and blue faded jeans, holding a black backpack, as he too left a taxi with his mom heading for school.
Similar scenes were repeated in different colors and ages around Moroccan streets, as the nation is celebrating today the opening of schools, after almost one month of delay, and more than one year of online education.
In front of Mansour Dahbi High school, the school security aimed the Infrared thermometer at each student’s forehead till the device’s screen turns green, while a cleaning worker spraying hand sanitizer on the students’ hands before allowing them inside the school.
The mixed voices and conversations between the classmates were cut off, from time to time, by a male teacher yelling “distance.”
It’s an unfamiliar “back to school” indeed, however, the students showed genuine enthusiasm and excitement to be back to the classes’ seats, even when they are bereft of sharing the table with a beloved classmate, due to health measures and social distancing policy.
“We are really happy to be back to school, so we can make up what we missed and get good grades this year,” said Asmae, a student in Mansour Dahbi High school.
Asmae hoped that her high school, which reached 80 percent of vaccination, will be fully vaccinated soon so everyone will feel safer.
Chaimae, another student in the High school, agreed with her classmate Asmae, as she said, “thanks to the vaccination we are able to come here and study at the classes. Without vaccination it won’t be possible to happen,” she continued, “and as a baccalaureate student I am grateful for that.”
As of Thursday, the number of students who received the first injection in Morocco exceeded two million and 200 thousand, representing 74 percent of the target group.
The demand for the second injection also improved this week, as of Wednesday evening, the number of students who received this injection exceeded 500,000, according Saeed Afif, Member of the COVID-19 Vaccination Committee.
Karima Lmenani, a teacher in the Mansour Dahbi high school, expressed her happiness to be back to the classrooms, and restart the face-face teaching as she added online teaching wasn’t a practical solution since not all students have their own laptops or a good internet connection.”
The National Assessment Authority with the Higher Council for Education, Training and Scientific Research (INE-CSEFRS) concluded in “an assessment of Education in the time of Covid,” that 36% of teachers believe that distance education has had a negative effect on learning. 27.5% say, on the contrary, that it has had a positive impact, while 13.5% consider that it has no impact on student learning. The rest don’t know.
The same study revealed that children from low-income families faced difficult learning conditions. Suffering from the unavailability of equipment to follow the lessons, these students also report other constraints linked, for example, to the cramped situation of housing, overcrowding or even an uninviting family environment. female students, in particular, have been asked more for household chores to the detriment of their schooling.
Fouad Shafiqi, Director of Curricula at the Ministry of National Education, stated to Hespress that the method of education followed will be in attendance, with parents giving the right to choose if they want their children to study remotely.
Shafiqi called for “convergence of efforts between educational frameworks, the family and students, and efforts in boarding schools, restaurants and other school facilities to create a safe space for students.”
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