Adopting French as a second language has long been acknowledged as a major problem for Moroccan education. Now, at long last, Morocco’s Minister of Education has come out and stated that "French is no longer valid, English is the solution". This is good news not only for education, but also for tourism which has suffered from not adopting English
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| Adopting the French Baccalaureate in Morocco is “a dubious solution” |
Aziz Allilou is the Morocco World News correspondent in Rabat and writes that Morocco’s Minister of Higher Education Lahcen Daoudi has announced that the government is moving to boost the position of English in Moroccan universities, stressing that English is the language of scientific research, and it is believed to be the solution in Morocco’s education system
After the Secretary General of the Independence Party Hamid Chabat called for the adoption of English instead of French as the second official language in Morocco, Daoudi announced that the government is to adopt English in Moroccan universities.
Talking to Al-Yaoum 24, Douadi declared that the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research will impose English in engineering and medical programs. The ministry is to make‘ “English proficiency a condition for obtaining a doctorate.’’
“Thus, students who want to have access to science departments at Moroccan universities must be proficient in English,’’ Daoudi explained.
Daoudi declared that the ministry’s policy of adopting French Baccalaureate in the country is “a dubious solution”, to Morocco’s ailing education system explaining that “French is no longer useful”.
According to Daoudi, Morocco should follow many countries, such as Spain, Portugal, and Romania, which adopt English as the main foreign language in their education systems.
He stated that “French is important in France and Africa. But Morocco must have educational frameworks for more languages.”
Adopting French as the second official language in Morocco after Arabic has always been viewed as the main problem in the country’s educational system. In this regard, Douadi said that “we master neither Arabic nor French…because most scientific references are in English.”
According to Daoudi, when Arabic was the language of science in the past, scientists were obliged to learn Arabic, like Pope Sylvester II, who used to study in Arabic in University of al-Karaouine in 996.
But nowadays, “English is the world language for scientific research,” Daoudi stressed.
The Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and Training concluded, “Whoever wants to learn Arabic, must also learn English first.”
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2 comments:
It is true that the English language is concise, fast. But is this the world we want? The French language has a richness, nuance, elegance. It would be a pity to abandon it in favor of a pseudo concept of efficiency!
This in my opinion is good news, 2 of my family members are about to do a TEFL course here in Marrakech to teach local people business and career english, particularly for tourism and the business sectors this will be a big boost for jobs and a greater opportunity for all concerned.
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