Medersa

An Islamic school for higher religious learning, typically attached to a major mosque or zawiya. The architectural type — central courtyard, surrounding student cells, a prayer hall on one side — was developed in the urban Maghreb (the Marinid medersas of Fez are the canonical examples) and propagated in modest form into rural foundations through the southern zawiya network. Many southern Moroccan ksour preserve a small medersa attached to the village mosque, often serving as a Quranic primary school as much as a higher institution, and several of the major zawiyas (notably Tamegroute on the lower Drâa) maintain working medersas of regional significance.