Moroccan official criticises lack of funding to tackle illiteracy

A Moroccan official criticised on Monday lack of funding allocated for literacy programs in the country.

“The government will allocate 60 billion dirhams ($6.35 billion) for education in the 2018 budget, but will allocate much less to fighting illiteracy” said Ismail al-Alawi, head of the Scientific Committee for Combating Illiteracy.

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Al-Alawi made the remarks at a press conference in Rabat to announce a national debate to combat illiteracy, which will take place on Friday and Saturday in the city of Skhirat near the capital.

The debate seeks to set a plan to reduce the illiteracy rate in the country to 10 per cent by 2026, compared with 32 per cent counted in 2014.

“Today we have 7 million students studying at various educational levels, compared to 8 million illiterate Moroccans” the official added.

Morocco’s illiteracy rate increased from 43,000 people who could not read or write ten years ago.

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The Moroccan authorities announced earlier this year that it will provide financial support to 2,500 associations, as part of efforts to reduce the illiteracy rate to 20 per cent by 2021 and to 10 per cent by 2026.

As many as 720,000 people benefited from the literacy programs last year, while the Moroccan authorities seek to achieve the same figures this year.