And the Moroccan Ministry of National Education has announced that this step aims to reach 50% of the coverage rate in 2026, provided that it reaches universal generalization by 2030.
The ministry said in a statement that this approach is in line with the implementation of the provisions of the Kingdom’s constitution, in particular chapter five thereof, which makes the Amazigh language an official state language.
Since 2003, the Ministry of National Education has started teaching the Amazigh language in partnership with the Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture (an official institution), but this approach has encountered many challenges and difficulties, according to those who are interested in the Amazigh question.
Teaching Tamazight in numbers
This week, the Minister of National Education, Primary Education and Sports, Chakib Benmoussa, unveiled data on the teaching of the Amazigh language, confirming that:
– 1,660 primary schools currently teach the Amazigh language, which includes 330,000 students.
The ambition is to generalize the teaching of Tamazight in 12,000 educational establishments and to reach 4 million students by 2030.
– Morocco currently has 400 teachers specializing in the teaching of Tamazight – The ministry is preparing to employ between 1,500 and 2,000 bilingual teachers.
An important step
Commenting on the map of generalization of the teaching of Amazigh in primary schools, Amina Ben Cheikh, Amazigh activist and adviser to the office of the Presidency of the Government in charge of the Amazigh file, confirms that this important step has come to correct previous errors in the project to generalize the teaching of Amazigh launched 20 years ago.
In a statement to “Sky News Arabia”, Ben Cheikh added that accelerating the pace of Amazigh education, whether at primary, preparatory or secondary level, is among the most important recommendations of civil authorities and the movement. amazigh.
The spokesperson stresses that the teaching of Amazigh is a necessary step in the process of activating the official character of Amazigh and implementing the provisions of the Constitution of the Kingdom, which confirms in its fifth chapter that Amazigh is an official language.
The Amazigh activist considers that the lack of human resources and the lack of teachers are among the main obstacles that hinder the teaching of the Amazigh language.
Ben Cheikh points out that the Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture has worked on the development of teaching programs, referring to an agreement signed between the Ministry of National Education and the Ministry of Digital Transition to launch a special application of teaching Amazigh and contribute to achieving the objectives set and expanding the generalization. .
Ben Cheikh confirms the existence of a number of initiatives aimed at bringing to a successful conclusion the project to activate the official character of the Amazigh language, underlining in the context the importance of the fund announced by the Prime Minister for the integration of the Amazigh language in various areas of public life.
Cut with reasons for failure
Several Amazigh human rights activists and researchers point out that moving to the implementation of the new plan calls for an evaluation of past experiences and a stance on the reasons that led to the “wobble” in the generalization of the teaching Amazigh 20 years ago.
The Amazigh writer and human rights activist, Ahmed Assid, believes that the decision to gradually generalize the teaching of the Amazigh language in primary schools, despite its importance, came late, explaining that the available data indicate that the generalization of the Amazigh language did not exceed 9% in 2022.
أن خطة الوزارة للتعميم الشا مل لتدريس أمازيغية في أفق عام 2030 ذي حدده القانون التنظيمي لتفعيل الطابع الرسمي للغة الأمازيغية لعام 2019 the law.
The Amazigh activist notes that the new roadmap did not refer to the teaching of the Amazigh language at the preparatory and tertiary secondary levels, which contradicts the regulatory law.
Assid calls for the need to treat the file of Amazigh education with the seriousness required and to eliminate the causes of “failure” over the past twenty years, and to allocate appropriate quotas and a sufficient number of teachers, whose number should not be less than more than 2,000 teachers per year, with the provision of the Amazigh textbook and its inclusion in the list of textbooks.
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