Moroccan activists reject imposition of French in schools

Moroccan activists have rejected the continued imposition of French in schools and called for resistance against the “Francisation of education”, according to the Middle East Monitor on February 24^th.

The National Coalition for the Arabic Language issued a statement on February 23^rd that said they rejected the continued imposition of French as a teaching language in Moroccan schools across all educational levels and urged civil society to advocate for the Arabic language instead.

Whilst French is taught from the first grade in both public and private schools, the official Moroccan constitution privileges Arabic as the official language of Morocco alongside Amazigh.

The coalition has stressed that promoting the Arabic language is a shared societal responsibility between both official and civil institutions. There has been no immediate comment from the government on the issue.

Whilst they are yet to respond, Mohamed Saad Berrada, the Minister of National Education, said in January that over 40 percent of schools in Morocco now teach the Amazigh language.

He noted that the number of teachers has increased from 200 in 2021 to 1850 in 2024 and that protecting and promoting the Amazigh language is “a constitutional duty, a royal conviction and a government commitment.”

However likely it is that the Moroccan government are pushing for the expansion of Amazigh language teaching in schools, it remains that French seems to be a privileged language in comparison and this appears yet to continue as Rabat and Paris establish closer ties.

In recent weeks, the French Culture Minister, Rachida Dati, became the first Parisian official to visit the Western Sahara, a sign that Paris supports the Moroccan claim to the long-disputed territory. Whilst there, she promised to open the territory’s first French culture center, along with the signing of a cooperation agreement in the field of cinema and audiovisual art.

Middle East Monitor, Maghrebi