Morocco’s Ministry of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education, and Scientific Researchers announced on March 23 the launch of a digital learning platform. The online service will support remote learning as teachers and students remain at home amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The Massar platform will facilitate direct communication between teachers and students, providing some educational continuity for Moroccan students, said a press release from the ministry.
New platform Taalim.ma aims to engage students in the learning process through lectures, digital texts, and audio-visual techniques.
The launch of the digital learning platform comes after Morocco shut down all pedagogical centers on March 16, in a bid to slow the spread of COVID-19 in the country. Students are encouraged to continue their studies at home and to remember that the lockdown is in no way a vacation.
The Ministry of Education said that the move is part of nationwide plans to guarantee that all students and teachers are safe and to avoid the spread of the virus.
The new service is now available to teachers and students in college and secondary education and will become generalized to primary education in the coming days.
A number of television stations also suspended their normal broadcasts to support remote education.
Morocco’s Ministry of Education announced on March 19 that the Broadcasting and Television National Company (SNRT) has dedicated the Arriyadia TV, a popular sports channel, to university lectures for Moroccan students.
The television channel will broadcast lectures from 8 a.m. to midnight on a daily basis, in line with the remote program implemented to ensure continuity until the end of the academic year.
The ministry will inform students once classes are ready to broadcast.
SNRT’s channel four is also broadcasting remote classes for students at primary and secondary schools.
For students in remote areas who do not have access to television or to the internet, schools will organize catch-up classes after the end of the suspension, Head of Government Saad Eddine El Othmani has assured.