Morocco has long been multilingual, since the Romans and then the Arabs conquered the coastlines and brought their languages with them, while the indomitable mountain tribes maintained their unique dialects (the Roman's designation of barbarian became our modern term "Berber"). When we plan a public school system, how do we decide which language to treat as primary -- or which two languages? How many can we fit? What is the medium of instruction at higher levels, for science and math and literature?
Morocco has been a solid francophone country for over a hundred years, with a firmly-established francophone educational and governmental system. The Arabic language has gained prominence since the development of the Arab League -- but Morocco's dialect of Arabic has diverged greatly from the classical Arabic of the Qur'an, Modern Standard Arabic, and the Egyptian or Levantine Arabic of mass media.
So there is an honest debate about the selected language of instruction, particularly for the sciences -- there is great political pressure to use "Arabic", to throw off the language of the oppressor, etc. But Moroccan Arabic ("Maghrebin") differs from other dialects and does not yet have the extensive scientific and literary curriculum for university teaching. French is the language of instruction for higher-level science and math.
In this debate I find writer Rachid Guerraoui actually proposing another language: English.
It is interesting to note that many universities around the world are now using English as a medium of instruction for many courses, for local as well as international students.
This publication is typically orthodox (i.e. not radical)
https://www.barlamane.com/fr/dans-quelle-langue-faudrait-il-enseigner-les-sciences-au-maroc/
An older article, on an English-language website, discusses the wish to replace French with English in the schools! The Minister of Education admits that it would not be practical, as few teachers currently know enough English. Hmm: currently. We ELFs are working on that.
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2019/01/263726/education-minister-english-french-morocco/
Morocco has been a solid francophone country for over a hundred years, with a firmly-established francophone educational and governmental system. The Arabic language has gained prominence since the development of the Arab League -- but Morocco's dialect of Arabic has diverged greatly from the classical Arabic of the Qur'an, Modern Standard Arabic, and the Egyptian or Levantine Arabic of mass media.
So there is an honest debate about the selected language of instruction, particularly for the sciences -- there is great political pressure to use "Arabic", to throw off the language of the oppressor, etc. But Moroccan Arabic ("Maghrebin") differs from other dialects and does not yet have the extensive scientific and literary curriculum for university teaching. French is the language of instruction for higher-level science and math.
In this debate I find writer Rachid Guerraoui actually proposing another language: English.
It is interesting to note that many universities around the world are now using English as a medium of instruction for many courses, for local as well as international students.
This publication is typically orthodox (i.e. not radical)
https://www.barlamane.com/fr/dans-quelle-langue-faudrait-il-enseigner-les-sciences-au-maroc/
An older article, on an English-language website, discusses the wish to replace French with English in the schools! The Minister of Education admits that it would not be practical, as few teachers currently know enough English. Hmm: currently. We ELFs are working on that.
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2019/01/263726/education-minister-english-french-morocco/
Comments
Post a Comment