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News: Headlines from the Moroccan Press: Monday, April 13, 2020

AUJOURD'HUI LE MAROC
Spring session starts: The parliamentary activity starts this Monday with a monthly session of questioning on general policy:
For good reason, parliamentary representatives and councilors are opening this session amid a health emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic that has been raging for several weeks. Like other activities and areas, parliamentary work has been adapted to this exceptional situation. It was therefore out of question to postpone and freeze parliament. In this sense, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Habib El Malki, stressed in a speech marking the opening of the parliamentary session the role that this institution can play, as part of its remit, in the efforts undertaken in Morocco to fight against Covid-19 and its various repercussions...

Violation of State of Health Emergency: 2,268 Individuals Arrested between Friday and Saturday:
The security operations carried out to impose the state of health emergency decreed to stop the spread of the pandemic of the new coronavirus (Covid-19) have resulted in the arrest, in the last 24 hours, of 2,268 individuals, of which 1,402 were placed in custody at the disposal of preliminary investigations ordered by the competent prosecutors, says the Directorate General of National Security (DGSN), stating that the other persons arrested were subjected to procedures of investigation, punching and identity verification...


LE MATIN DU SAHARA
The HACA calls on the media to avoid stigmatizing sick people and to respect their right to image and privacy:
The High Council for Audiovisual Communication (CSCA), the HACA's decision-making body, adopted a report on April 10 on the specific efforts made by Moroccan radio and television stations. The report, validated during a telemeeting, recalled certain principles to be respected in terms of media treatment of the pandemic issue during this period. Transmitted to all audiovisual operators in anticipation of the next steps in the evolution of this global health crisis, the report provides a dozen recommendations for a media practice "further strengthening the efforts and positions of vigilance in terms of media support for the various aspects and repercussions of this pandemic crisis..."

Operation SALAMA: Launch of the 2nd phase for the benefit of the elderly and disabled populations:
The 2nd phase of Operation Salama was launched last Friday by the Ministry of Solidarity, Social Development, Equality, and the Family and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to act with the elderly and people with disabilities most at risk, in a context marked by the Coronavirus pandemic...


LES INSPIRATIONS ÉCO
Health crisis. The point with the French ambassador:
How did the French Embassy in Morocco and the consular representations organize themselves to ensure the continuity of services to their citizens in this period of confinement? As for most employers, public or private, in Morocco as in France, it was necessary to show reactivity and flexibility. A certain number of measures have been taken to adapt to the constraints posed by this global pandemic and to ensure, in the most efficient way possible, the continuity of public services in this period of unprecedented health crisis...

Tuition fees. The mission asks to proceed to the cash desk:
The payment of school fees for the 3rd term is currently at the heart of a controversy between, on the one hand, the Management Group of the Association for French Education Abroad (AEFE) in Casablanca-Mohammedia, and the parents' associations on the other. Following the March 16 closure of the schools and the start of the lockdown, parent-teacher associations referred Jean-Michel Blanker, the French Minister of National Education, and all relevant authorities to Jean-Michel Blanker about families' concerns about these school fees, while others preferred to enter into direct talks with the AEFE management...


LIBERATION
Will the desired response come from the Special Fund? Migrants working in Morocco deprived of RAMED and CNSS:
1.3 million is the number of people to have benefited from the direct grant paid by the Special Fund dedicated to the management of the coronavirus pandemic. Figures from the Ministry of Economy, Finance, and Administrative Reform indicate that this aid has benefited 600,000 households operating in the informal sector and 700,000 employees affiliated to the CNSS. What about the active migrant population?...

Said Amzazi: There will be no blank year because of the pandemic:
The Minister of National Education, Higher Education, and Scientific Research once again provided clarification on the 2019-2020 school year when he appeared on 2M television last Friday. Said Amzazi, who was appointed last week as the Government's Spokesman, recalled that his department has no intention of declaring a blank year in schools because of the pandemic, stressing furthermore that exams are being maintained and that programming will remain dependent on the date of the lifting of the confinement...