Join on WhatsApp 
Join on Telegram Rabat – Students are demanding Moroccan schools to schedule exams online amid concerns over the safety of in-person exams due to an alarming surge in COVID-19 cases.
Students from Lycee Descartes in Rabat reached out to Morocco World News, claiming that “the school saw an increase of COVID-19 cases, yet the administration remains blind on the matter.”
Concerned students denounce violations of sanitary measures on their school campuses.“Although there are several people who were in contact with an infected person, the school asks them to attend classes,” one student said.
MWN reached out to a representative of Lycee Descartes, who stressed that the school has a COVID-19 crisis unit that tracks the evolution of the COVID-19 situation in the school. The unit consists of representatives of the parents’ associations, staff members, and a medical team.
Following a meeting of the COVID-19 crisis unit, personnel from the school administration confirmed to MWN that they have decided to suspend in-person classes starting from January 7 for high school and January 8 for middle school. Classes will be held online until January 17.
“We abide by the law and the preventive measures of the authorities,” they said.
This scenario repeats itself in other schools. In the National School of Commerce and Management, in both Tangier and Casablanca, some students said they are unable to perform their best in a high-risk environment. They called for the schools to cancel in-person exams.
“Last year, the school allowed online classes, but now that there are many confirmed COVID cases, the school still insists to maintain in-person exams,” a student from ENCG Tangier told MWN, adding that “the school is competing at the expense of the students’ health.”
An academic coordinator at ENCG Tangier spoke to MWN, noting that January 6 marked the first day of the exams period in the school. She emphasized, “everyone is wearing their masks and respecting social distancing rules.”
“I understand that students prefer to take exams online, but the claims about the school recording many COVID cases are simply not true. We would not risk anyone’s life,” she added.
To date, 22 positive COVID-19 cases were reported in ENCG Casablanca. Amid fears of further infections, students are demanding the school and the presidency of Hassan II University to follow the decision of the Higher Education Ministry and switch to remote exams.
Read Also: COVID-19: Minister of Higher Education Urges Universities to Organize Remote Exams
In a letter sent to Mohammed Talbi, President of Hassan II University, and Smail Kabbaj, Director of ENCG Casablanca, students stressed that “taking in-person exams with over 2,000 students represent a high risk since a significant number of students are infected and cannot be tested for several reasons, including that some COVID tests are not taken into account.”
The statement clarifies that the test results of students taking rapid pharmacy tests were not taken into account, hence, the exact number of infections remains unknown.
Following the recent increase of COVID-19 cases in the International University of Rabat (UIR), a student told MWN, “we as students are very fearful of our health and safety,” noting that exams are also taking place in-campus.
Other UIR students affirmed to MWN that the school is taking the preventive measures seriously and a professor who tested positive was quarantined.
Universities around the world are adapting to the threat of COVID-19 and enforcing efforts to minimize the transmission of the virus among students and staff members. Other issues, however, raise further difficulties. These issues include the novelty of online and in-person exams and the hybrid teaching modes previously absent in the Moroccan educational system.
