Mauritanian president: Arabization of education isolates the country

Mauritania's President Maaouya Ould Sedi Ahmad Taya has defended in a speech he delivered starting his tour of the country and broadcast by the state-run television on Tuesday night the new "reform" in education, a process which has minimized the role of the Arabic language and brings back the French language strongly.

The Mauritanian president said the current educational curriculum which is based on comprehensive Arabization and permits African Mauritanians to choose the French language "has exposed us to great risks."

Meanwhile, officials accompanying the president denied that the "reforms" are against Islam and Arabism.

President Ould Taya described the current educational system as "a corrupted system which was bad for our children," adding that the system "exposes us to numerous risks." He said, "Universities in the East and the West no longer accept our students."

The Mauritanian president considered the law which was ratified recently by the parliament and provides for giving up Arabization as aiming at "guaranteeing progress and unity and to keep the country independent." He added that the newly-enacted law "preserves our cultural independence and permits us to preserve our own Mauritanian civilization."

He continued that the "Arabized educational curricula isolates us, and the one who is isolated is a hopeless case." He asserted that the objective now is to be able to have command of "sciences and technology in the age of globalization."

For his part, the Mauritania's Minister of Education al-Saghir Ould Mubarak, who denied that the set educational reforms that will be valid as of the next school year "have come at the pressure from the West."