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Rabat – Over 7.5 million students are returning to school today, October 1, as the 2021-2022 school year begins.
October 1 marks the beginning of the school year for students in Morocco after months of holidays.
Initially, Morocco’s Ministry of Education announced the start of the 2021/2022 school year would begin in September. The epidemiological situation in the country, however, urged the Ministry to postpone the start of the school year by one month in order to ensure that the majority of students returning to school were vaccinated.
The 2021-2022 school year is the second school season in Morocco running under COVID-19.
The previous school year was unprecedented as Morocco adopted remote learning for the majority of the academic year.
Morocco recorded the first-ever case of COVID-19 in March 2020. A few weeks following the surge of COVID-19 cases in the country, the Moroccan government declared a state of emergency in mid-March and announced the adoption of remote education in an effort to avoid the COVID-19 crisis.
Morocco’s education system was largely dependent on in-person education prior to the pandemic, and the introduction of a remote learning education system was unprecedented.
After several months of remote education, Morocco granted students and parents the choice of an in-person education or remote learning, according to their preference.
Before the end of the 2020-2021 school year, a majority of students opted for an in-person education amid the improvement in Morocco’s epidemiological situation.
Morocco’s decision to return to an in-person education again this school year is an indication to the significant improvement of the epidemiological situation in the country, and further emphasized the success of the national vaccination campaign.
On Thursday, the Ministry of Education announced that in-person education will apply to all education institutions, including universities, vocational training centers, and international schools.
The ministry also expressed satisfaction about the pace with which the vaccination campaign among the 12-17 age group is being implemented.
As of Thursday, a total of 2,219,093 children aged 12-17 have received the first dose of the vaccine.
The number of s fully vaccinated students stands at 68,218.
Morocco began vaccinating the 12-17 age group on August 31.
Morocco aims to vaccinate 3 million students to curb the spread of COVID-19 at schools.
Remote education is still a viable alternative for parents wishing to have their children study from home.
