Students Urge Casablanca American School to Opt for Online Classes

Rabat – Amid concerns over soaring COVID-19 cases in Morocco in recent weeks, dozens of students have called on their schools to reconsider in-person classes and opt for online learning instead.

Although schools are grappling to keep in-person education going, the surge of COVID-19 cases across the country is imposing a serious threat to the safety of students and staff.

A group of students from Casablanca American School (CAS) reached out to Morocco World News, expressing fears over the potential threats they are exposed to while attending classes in-person.

“Our schools are not listening to us or providing us with the help we need during this pandemic. Our mental health has not been taken into consideration since the start of COVID,” the students said.

As online learning in times of COVID-19 has both benefits and drawbacks, they stressed that they “have received absolutely no help” from CAS to catch up on their studies after “missing out on tons of instructional time during our first year preparing for the baccalaureate.”

While some are urging schools to close down and switch classes to online, students from the National School of Commerce and Management in Casablanca called for the school to cancel in-person exams.

“Our whole lives, we have strived to accomplish great things through education, experience, and influence, however, the pandemic has put a halt to all of that,” they added. The students are urging the Moroccan government to intervene as they are at a disadvantage if they continue to attend in-person classes while the COVID-19 situation is still alarming.

They commented, “Schools are hubs of infections with thousands of students and even teachers going to many unknown places after school and returning in the same space for over 8 hours a day giving more than enough time to spread the virus to multiple people.”

Morocco World News (MWN) tried to reach out to the Casablanca American School to further understand the COVID-19 situation in their campus but our calls were not answered.

The French international college and high school Louis Massignon in Casablanca closed its doors earlier this week after detecting over 10 cases among students and announced that online classes will take place until January 12.

As of January 6, the number of COVID-19 cases in Morocco skyrocketed to 6,050 new cases and 11 deaths after a month of low cases numbers.

Last month, Morocco’s Minister of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research Abdellatif Miraoui urged the deans of universities to “organize all exams remotely, until further notice.”

Miraoui emphasized that the kingdom “has not yet overcome the danger of an outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) in Europe has also warned that soaring Omicron cases worldwide could potentially emerge newer and more dangerous variants.