COVID-19 Crisis in Morocco: Lessons Learnt

Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak has pushed many countries to take unprecedented procedures to slow down the spread of the virus. Hospitals, schools, colleges, and other educational institutions have been widely closed to stop the COVID-19 virus from spreading among the older and younger communities. The Moroccan government shared that health experts have suggested "preventive and precautionary" measures to ensure complete protection for students and staff. Thus, the need for virtual schools arose to prevent learners from falling behind intellectually. In this context, educators were forced to quickly shift their teaching from face-to-face to remote teaching. As a result, there was a clear gap in the teachers’ preparation and readiness for such a transition to teaching online. This article aims to tackle educators’ experiences during this crisis, shedding light on the lessons learnt. To do that, we contacted 1200 teachers, through an online questionnaire, from all over Morocco, but we got a total of 948 answers. In this paper, we discuss preliminary survey findings and recommendations for better preparing and supporting educators to teach remotely in times of emergency.