Rabat – In a bid to advance Amazigh language integration, Morocco’s government announced the signing of a new agreement to develop an application dedicated to Tamazight.
Morocco’s Ministry of Digital Transition and Administrative Reform and the Ministry of National Education signed on Tuesday in Khemisset, near Rabat signed an agreement for the development of the application.
The agreement seeks to enable users inside Morocco and abroad to benefit from Tamazight language learning.
Commenting on the agreement, Minister of Education Chakib Benmoussa said that the partnership will “make it possible to accelerate the learning by students of the Amazigh language.”
Benmoussa added that the new app “supports the efforts of the Department of Education aimed at the gradual generalization of this language to the different teaching levels.”
The project is in line with the 2022-2026 roadmap, which considers digital solutions as a “lever to bring about the desired change in the education system,” he said.
Benmoussa acknowledged that the education sector is an “essential platform” for the development of Tamazight and the strengthening of its use in different fields.
The application project was announced on the eve of the Yennayer, the first month of the Amazigh new year.
Amazigh people across North Africa, including Morocco, celebrate Yennayer on January 12 annually. There have been calls to the Moroccan government by the Amazigh people to recognize January 12 as an official holiday.
Morocco’s government has been vowing to intensify efforts to accelerate the officialization of the Amazigh language.
In January 2022, Head of Government Aziz Akhannouch announced a budget of $21.74 million to officialize the Amazigh language as part of its 2022 finance law.
“The government will pursue, with determination, the concretization of its commitments throughout its mandate, in order to achieve the constitutional objectives, the royal will, and the aspirations of the people linked to this ambitious national project,” Akhannouch said.
On January 10, Akhannouch echoed Morocco’s ongoing determination to continue to work on the acceleration plan. The head of government stressed that the implementation of the official character of Amazigh remains dependent on the mobilization of the financial resources necessary for the realization of such an ambition.
Akhannouch recalled that Morocco’s government allocated MAD 300 million ($29.34 million) to continue in its plans to officialize Tamazight as part of the 2023 state budget.
This budget will reach MAD 1 billion ($97.81 million) by 2025, he vowed.
