A group of Amazigh associations have recently called on Moroccan
authorities to
officially recognize the Amazigh language (Tamazight) and make its teaching
obligatory in schools.
A dozen Moroccan Amazigh cultural associations, which claim Morocco is
ethnically Amazigh, and not Arab, have been campaigning for years to get
Tamazight to be taught in state schools.
King Hassan, who is expected to announce a constitutional amendment
later this
year to reform parliament and allow wider regional representation, said two
years ago that Tamazight would be taught in primary schools alongside Arabic.
However, nothing has materialized since then.
A half dozen publications in Tamazight have a wide circulation in the
country
and the official television station broadcasts some of its news bulletins in
the three dialects. But teaching in schools is in Arabic and French.
Last month the Moroccan government banned a planned Amazigh cultural
week in
Rabat. The Moroccan Human Rights Association said authorities gave no reason
for the ban.
The Paris-based Amazigh World Congres (CMA), an international organization
which groups several Amazigh associations and organizations worldwide, said
Tamazight should be recognized as a ``national language.'' In a statement issued in Rabat, the CMA said Moroccan Imazighen, who
make up the majority of the country's 26 million people, should take advantage
of planned constitutional reforms to demand that the Amazigh culture and
language be considered ``a nucleus of Moroccan identity.''
Moreover, in anopen lelter addressed to the King of Morocco during his last
visit to Paris, the CMA urging him to put an end to the injustice the Amazigh
culture and language have been subjected.