Children trek to tent school in quake-hit Morocco; teachers provide distraction, psychological support

In the earthquake-hit mountains of Morocco, 13-year-old Abdessamad El Berd gets up before dawn to make the long trek to the tent city that is his new school, walking by torchlight and careful to avoid roaming dogs.

His father accompanies him on the 14-kilometre walk from their remote village of Tinghar to the makeshift school set up in the small town of Asni, in the disaster-hit area south of Marrakech.

"I don't want him to drop out of school, but it's tough," said the 45-year-old father, Brahim El Berd.

"I don't know if he can keep up this pace," the man said, voicing hope that school buses will soon be organised.

"Otherwise, we won't make it."

Morocco's education ministry has set up 32 traditional tents at Asni that serve as a school for 2,800 middle and high school students.

Classes have not yet officially resumed since the 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck the region on September 8, killing nearly 3,000 people.

But many children are already flocking to the tent school, where teachers provide a distraction and badly-needed psychological support to the children, many of whom have lost family members.

"I don't feel very well," said one pupil, Khadija Ait Ali, 17.

"But the fact that I'm back at school, even if in a tent, surrounded by my friends, is a relief."

"I don't like being alone anymore because all I think about is the earthquake."

The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has said the quake impacted around one million school children.

It damaged or destroyed 530 schools and 55 boarding facilities, and classes were suspended in about 40 municipalities in the Al-Haouz, Chichaoua and Taroudant provinces.

At the makeshift school, French language teacher Abdellah Zahid, 32, said that, until classes resume, the main goal is to support the children.

"We are focusing on listening to our students and providing them with psychological support," Zahid told AFP.