A row over teaching in French has reopened old wounds in Morocco
FRANTZ FANON, a great theorist of colonialism, wrote that “every colonised people...finds itself face to face with the language of the civilising nation.” This confrontation can persist years after independence. Just ask Morocco. Some in the former French colony are up in arms over a law reintroducing French as a language of instruction in schools. It is a return “to the language of the coloniser”, said Abdelilah Benkirane, a former prime minister.
Most of the law in question, passed on August 2nd, is uncontroversial. It aims to reform Morocco’s dysfunctional education system. But article two allows for the teaching of science, maths and technical subjects in French (and other languages). Whereas most Moroccans speak Darija (or Moroccan Arabic), French is the language of business, government and higher education. The measure aims to equip students for this reality.
The controversy is more about politics than pedagogy. Morocco’s two official languages are modern standard Arabic (MSA) and Tamazight (the Berber tongue). Many feel that only MSA is suitable for teaching. Even the inclusion of a few words of Darija in a textbook last year caused an uproar. Members of the Islamist Justice and Development Party, such as Mr Benkirane, now fear the “Frenchification” of education.
Plenty of Moroccans, though, see merit in...