Omicron: Morocco's education ministry closes 4 schools, as Covid-19 cases surge among students

Omicron: Morocco's education ministry closes 4 schools, as Covid-19 cases surge among students
Morocco's ministry of education closed lately at least 4 schools after detecting dozens of Covid-19 infections among students.
2 min read
06 January, 2022
A mask-clad volunteer takes the temperature of parents and children coming to be inoculated (Photo by Horacio Villalobos#Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)

As Morocco’s education ministry is grappling to keep in-person education going, the surge of Covid-19 cases among students has so far forced more than four schools in the Kingdom to close, and dozens of students to study remotely.

“So far, 4 schools closed in Morocco, after recording more than 10 cases in each: 1 private school in Rabat and 3 schools, 1 public and 2 private in Casablanca,” said the Ministry of Education in a statement to The New Arab.

The latest school to be closed over coronavirus infections is the French international college and high school Louis Massignon in Casablanca after detecting more than 10 cases among students.

Morocco has recently closed two schools in Casablanca, the city with the highest rates of infections and where the first Omicron case in the country was detected.

According to Morocco’s Ministry of Education newly released protocol, schools in which cases surpass 10 infections need to be closed for 7 days, while those that recorded fewer than 4 cases, need to provide online schooling for the class in which the cases were first detected while staying otherwise open.

Morocco's minister of education Chakib Benmoussa,  announced earlier this month that priority must be given to in-person learning, considering “its efficacy in achieving the objectives of education, while remote schools will be the ministry's last resort," said the Benmoussa statement last Monday.

The vaccination rate among Moroccan students is more than 90%, according to the Moroccan scientific committee, the highest rate among targeted age groups.