IMZOUREN, Mar.10 - HM King Mohammed
VI toured this Wednesday a school and a pyscho-social support center in
the town of Imzouren which was badly hit last February 24 by a 6 degree-quake
in the northeastern region of Al-Hoceima.
The powerful tremor has killed 629 people,
injured over 900 others and left thousands homeless.
The sovereign had pitched camp in the quake-stricken city of Al-Hoceima to follow the rescue, aid supply and medical treatment extended to the victims.
On Tuesday, Moroccan minister of education and youth, Habib El Malki, has called pupils and education staff to go back to school and asked the education staff to conduct activities to help pupils overcome post-quake trauma.
Although most schools were destroyed or badly damaged in the quake, classes have resumed in 90 to 100% of schools in the regions that were not affected and in 60% of schools in the quake-stricken regions.
The Al Hoceima-Taza-Taounate region counts 129 primary schools and 28 secondary schools, 61,100 primary school pupils and 17,702 secondary education institutions. The region has a registration rate of 100% in cities and of 92% in rural areas.
The Abi Talib primary school, visited by the sovereign, was dedicated in 1959 by late King Mohammed V. It comprises 12 rooms for 591 pupils, supervised by 20 teachers.
In the psycho-social center pitched in a camp by the Mohammed V solidarity foundation, the sovereign toured the various spaces of this center set up to alleviate the psychological and social sufferings of adults and children traumatized by the tremor. The center is supervised by three psychiatrists, two psychologists, a doctor specialized in catastrophes, a pharmacist, six social workers and other specialized medics.
=A9 MAP 2004