Over 400,000 people benefit from nationwide literacy campaign

The Nationwide literacy campaign dubbed "Massirat Ennour (March for light)," launched in Morocco end of last May, benefited some 431,544 persons, said state secretary in charge of literacy and informal education, Najima Rhozali Tay Tay.

Rhozali also noted during a debate aired Tuesday by Morocco's TV channel "TVM" that "Massirat Ennour" is part of a long-run vision that targets to reach 1.5 million persons next year.

The official ascribed the weak results of past years literacy campaigns to pedagogical reasons, lack of means, infrastructures and supervisors, in addition to programs' incompatibility with people's needs.

She also deplored the quasi-total absence of enterprises' support to literacy programs and the "weak contribution" of the civil society and governmental partners, underscoring that a national symposium on the issue is scheduled in October with the collaboration of the World Bank.

The prime minister had stressed that the campaign marks the start of a battle against illiteracy and school dropping, noting that after 47 years of independence, illiteracy has only slightly regressed. He cited "alarming and shocking figures" that 12 million Moroccans are illiterate, particularly women (3 out of 5) and in rural areas (2 out of 3).

The 2003 literacy campaign, an endeavor of the whole society, consists of four programs: the general campaign that will target 570,000 beneficiaries, a program by public bodies for 146,000 persons, activities by associations for 269,000 persons and the plan carried out by private enterprises for 15,000 recipients.