“Amazigh is a foreign language,” Mirawi said, sparking controversy at the King Fahd Higher School of Translation.

“Widespread controversy” accompanies an official memorandum from the Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation to universities concerning information on admission to this year’s lottery at the King Fahd Higher School of Translation in Tangier, where it was placed. Its section concerns the competition materials for admission to the path of translation or interpretation, with Amazigh being “the language of the first foreigner”.

The ministerial memorandum reviewed by Hespress is intended for students who wish to study for a master’s degree at the King Fahd Higher School of Translation and Interpreting in the academic year 2024/2025 and explains the objectives of the training, the system and duration of study, the certificates awarded, the conditions and procedures for nominations, competition materials, competition dates, publication of results…

Many school teachers were surprised that in the written examination materials, Amazigh was listed as the first foreign language category, after French, Spanish, German and English, all of which, except Amazigh, were translated into Arabic.

Some Amazigh activists have said through social media that adding Amazigh to the foreign language is “a farce and a scandal, considered unconstitutional, a direct violation of national identity, and a provocation to collective feelings.”

Miravi

Hespress contacted a source in the administration of the King Fahd Higher School of Translation and Interpretation in Tangier, who confirmed that the inclusion of Amazigh in the first foreign language category “is due to a certification provided by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation.”

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, admitted that Amazigh’s status as the first foreign language was a “mistake” because the Moroccan constitution states that it is “an official language, along with Arabic.”

An administrative source explained that the course in which the Amazigh controversy arose was “designated to be written by a coordinating professor, who then submitted the characteristics and content of the course he prepared, according to a descriptive notebook directed by the Ministry of Higher Education”. He explained that “its status as a foreign language is that of the department, not of the school.”

The Hespress source added that “the coordinator who prepared this course has expertise in this field”, explaining that “the status of Amazigh as a second or official language is still under discussion as long as other countries adopt French as an official language, but it is a foreign language,” adding that “according to the constitution, the Amazigh language is of course an official language, and entering it as a foreign language gives every foreign Amazigh the right to be in their own land. It needs to be reformulated in a way that does not cause any sensitivity or contradict the constitution.”

The same source again blamed the “Milawi Ministry” for the incident, saying: “The ministry should have taken control of the situation and closely followed the existence of this error, and then gave the go-ahead to the institutions and coordinators and indicated the possibility of holding the competition.”

Professor status

The local office of the National Union of Higher Education of teachers at the King Fahd Higher School of Translation in Tangier has issued a statement in which they reject “the addition of the Arabic-Amazigh-French translation course to the English section without consulting all the professors, and the appointment of the deputy director for teaching affairs as coordinator of the course without consulting the French department to which she belongs. “

On the other hand, Hisham Boughaba, head of the Arabic-English-French translation department and coordinator of the simultaneous interpretation course at the aforementioned school, believes that “the government is committed to preparing the content of the ministerial memorandum and has sent it to the ministry for approval before its release.”

Boughaba added to Hespress that the competition was approved by the ministry, in which the Amazigh debate included all known tracks, except for the new tracks this year (Arabic, French, Amazigh), although it was not properly adopted, stressing that “the government did not notice that there were major flaws. “Putting Amazigh together with other foreign languages ​​translated into Arabic is fatal and historical. “

The school professor stressed that “the majority of teachers agree to adopt the Amazigh language, provided that it is done in the right way by the teaching team, working in all aspects”, explaining that “the nature of the competition scheduled for September is unknown, and how it will pass.”