Language Policy in Morocco

Language policy in Morocco is a mechanism whereby the state has tried to manage social and political conflict. The current language policy that recognizes Berber and calls for its mandatory inclusion in the Moroccan system of education is the latest apparatus adopted by the state in dealing with the Berber question in Morocco. Far from its being simply a linguistic problem, the Berber question is above all a political movement that uses ethno-linguistic pleas as a platform for demanding justice and equal opportunities for its marginalized people. Several activists and observers have questioned the sincerity of this venture; others have gone as far as to suggest that this language policy is nothing but a political weapon used by the state to counter the rise of Islamism in Morocco. The question is whether the Moroccan state will indeed succeed in implementing this new language policy after decades of pursing a language policy of Arabization that shortchanged the Moroccan poor who needed higher French proficiency to be able to be able to compete in the job market and contributed to the marginalization of Berber.