Morocco Parents Favor Delayed School Start Amid COVID-19 Concerns, Survey Shows
A majority of Moroccans prefer to postpone the start of the school year until January 4, 2021. This is the result of a survey conducted by the Union of Parents and Guardians of Students of Private Educational Institutions in Morocco.
The survey was conducted from August 13 to 20, 2020. 7,448 parents of students out of more than 51,000 invited to express their preference for the 2020/2021 school year participated. On August 6, the Ministry of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research had announced that the 2020-2021 school year will begin on September 7 for preschool and the three cycles of education.
At the parent level, opinions are divided. They had to choose one of the five following possibilities: A postponement of the school start to January 4, 2021; a school start in September next year in person; a school start in September alternating between face-to-face and distance learning; a blank year or a postponement of the school start to October 2020.
76.84% of the parents who participated in the vote, i.e. 5,717 parents, are in favor of postponing the return to school to January 4, 2021, the Union said on the Facebook group.
A proportion of 13.45% of parents, exactly 1,001 student parents, expressed their preference for a September return with the adoption of face-to-face classes.
The parents preferring the alternation between face-to-face and distance learning courses, starting in September, number 565, or 7.59% of the parents who participated in the survey.
104 of the parents (1.40%) voted for a blank year; 57 of them (0.71%) chose to postpone admission to school until October 2020.
