Morocco Ramps Up Production of Child-Sized Masks for School Reopening

Pending confirmation from the Ministry of National Education and the Ministry of Industry, the Moroccan Association of Textile and Clothing Industries (AMITH) is mobilizing industrialists, reports l’Économiste. They are invited to confirm their interest and communicate their production capacity in order to finalize the production plan, the association specifies. It wants to supply the market with an industrial quantity of masks. For the time being, this decision to wear masks in schools has not yet been confirmed.

The many steps to contact the ministry’s executives have remained in vain. According to Fatima Ouahmi, Director of Communication at the Ministry of National Education, no official decision has yet been made regarding the supply of masks to students for the start of the school year. According to her, the Ministry of Industry could provide more clarification on the subject. The executives of this department are also not ready to communicate further on the subject.

For the Director of the Moroccan Institute of Standardization (IMANOR), Abderrahim Taibi, the Moroccan standard has already been extended to children’s sizes (NM/ST 21.5.200 and NM/ST 21.5.201). If in June, it was revised at the request of the Ministry of Industry to introduce three size categories: small, medium and large, the other characteristics are identical to those of masks intended for adults, he specifies.

"The companies certified to manufacture masks for adults have all the potential to produce them. Industrialists did not manufacture them massively earlier, because there was no demanding market. But with the start of the school year looming, there will certainly be strong demand," he added. In total, more than 300 Moroccan companies are Imanor certified for the manufacture of protective health masks (woven and non-woven fabric), with an estimated production capacity of 10 million units/day across all formats.