Morocco launches nationwide anti-illiteracy campaign
Moroccan prime minister, Driss Jettou, officially launched on Tuesday a nationwide anti-illiteracy campaign themed "Massirat Annour" (March toward light).
The prime minister stressed that the campaign marks the start of a combat that Morocco has embarked on to fight illiteracy and school dropping of the youth. He noted that after 47 years of independence, illiteracy has slightly regressed, citing "alarming and shocking figures" that 12 million Moroccans are illiterate, particularly among women (3 out of 5) and in rural areas (2 out of 3).
He also deplored the serious consequences this situation entails on families, health, living conditions and social and cultural integration as well as on economy, since it also has incidence on growth and on the creation of wealth and jobs, affects incomes, participates in increasing poverty rates and worsens exclusion.
State secretary in charge of informal education and fighting illiteracy, Najima Ghozali, said illiteracy rate has been reduced from 80% in 1960, to 48% in 1999, before spelling out the outlines of her department's plan to bring down illiteracy rate from 48% presently to 35% by end 2004 and less than 20% by 2010, before a quasi-total eradication in 2015.
The 2003 anti-illiteracy campaign, an endeavor associating all the Moroccan society components, consists of four programs: the general literacy campaign that will target 570,000 recipients, a program by public bodies for 146,000 persons, activities by associations for 269,000 persons and plan carried out by private enterprises for 15,000 recipients.
The official said preparations for this nationwide campaign include a series of conferences and meetings, publishing a manual for literacy instructors and school books for recipients. The government will also organize a TV and radio ad campaign focusing on the themes of light and darkness.
