Rabat - Despite all the media hype, it seems that English will not replace French in the Moroccan curriculum after all.
Will Morocco ever escape from the francophone influence?
The switch of the Moroccan education system from French to English seems to be heading towards a dead end. According to news website Hespress, the Supreme Council for Education, Training and Scientific Research is reconsidering earlier recommendations to replace French with English in the Moroccan curriculum in its Strategic Report to be submitted to King Mohammed VI.
The council headed by Omar Azziman, an advisor to King Mohammed VI, is said to have ordered the formation of a sub-committee to review the proposal of replacing French with English, a proposal already hailed by many members of the Council's Permanent Committee on Curriculum, Programs, Training and Teaching tools in earlier sessions.
The same source said that voices within the Council pushed for French to be kept as the first foreign language of the country mainly because of the French-Moroccan relations recently restored after a year-long diplomatic row.
The Arabic-speaking news website added that Council members who are against the replacement of the French language with English are playing the card of Morocco's strategic interests to further their claims.
They are justifying their choice by saying that French holds a leading position in the Moroccan educational system and that French is the language of many African countries with whom Morocco tries to maintain strategic ties, Hespress added.
Many Moroccan ministers issued statements on numerous occasions favoring the adoption of English over French within the Moroccan educational system.
Even the Head of the government Abdelilah Benkirane highlighted the importance of adopting English and using it in Moroccan schools during a party meeting last month.
"We all agree on teaching languages, and we have to teach our students to be excellent in both English and French,” he said. "If we have to choose, we will choose English because it is the language of today’s science, technology and commerce.”
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