The decision to temporarily suspend schooling in the rural communes and douars that were severely hit by the earthquake did not halt the education of the students in those areas.
“Resuming education is the best way to assess students in the earthquake-affected areas and integrate them back to school,” psychologist Jaouad Mabrouki told MoroccoLatestNews.
Students attending schools in Al Haouz province that were severely affected by the earthquake require supervision from instructors, educational staff, and administrative personnel in addition to social aid and psychological support specialists.
The Royal Armed Forces set up school tents to provide the kids in the Amezmiz area with the necessary logistical support to return to classrooms and continue their education.
The specialist told MoroccoLatestNews that this kind of natural phenomenon’s “surprise effect” might have “a great impact on one’s psychology.” These kids experienced both the loss of loved ones and the loss of their homes, which has had a significant psychological impact on them.
The psychologist addressed the effects of the recent events on the students, highlighting “post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is a disorder that develops in some people after experiencing a shocking, scary, or dangerous event, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), in which people have recurrent, unwanted thoughts, ideas, or sensations.”
Efforts are being made to secure the availability of suitable teaching methods and local logistics to guarantee the affected kids’ continued education, which Mabrouki stressed was crucial.
The need for students to return to school is important. “The greatest way to lessen their psychological effects after the earthquake is to keep them in school. For them, returning to school would mean continuing their daily lives as they had before the earthquake,” according to the psychologist.
The psychologist proposed a few measures to enable the kids’ successful reintegration into the classroom and to address the psychological traumas caused by the earthquake:
Psychological training of faculty and educational professionals: the working bodies of education in those locations need training in psychological assistance to adapt to the students’ conditions, comprehend them better, and know how to appropriately handle them, according to Mabrouki.
Professors need direction and instruction to teach these pupils who are undergoing unusual conditions. “Their methods need specific adjustments to the current events”, said the psychologist.
Student psychological assistance: students need psychological assistance to recover from the recent shock of the earthquake disaster. These incidents “leave a huge mark on the minds and psyche of these students, especially the ones in the badly affected areas,” said Mabrouki.
Group counseling in the classroom: “Collective discussions of the traumatic events between the students would greatly help the processing of these events.” The psychologist stressed the significance of class to sort of share the effects of the students collectively.
“Through circles of listening and sharing, the kids will feel a sense of solidarity and companionship,” the psychologist said, “which is what they need most during these times.”