HM the King Hands Mohammed VI Award to Outstanding Students of 2018-2019 National Program to Combat Illiteracy in Mosques
PERSISMA, Essaouira, Morocco– HM King Mohammed VI, Commander of the Faithful, handed, after the Friday prayer at the “Lalla Amina” Mosque in Essaouira, the Mohammed VI Award to outstanding students of the Program to combat illiteracy in Mosques for the year 2018-2019.
They are, in the women’s category, Naima Amine (Beni Mellal), Nabila El Khabchi (M’Diq-Fnideq) and Khadija Id Abdellah (Agadir), and in the men’s category, Mbarek Id El Mehdi (Boujdour), Abdelmalek Al Merdi (Errachidia) and Abdelkarim Kaaouas (Taza).
The national program to combat illiteracy in Mosques was launched in accordance with the High Royal Instructions contained in the Sovereign’s speech on the occasion of the 47th anniversary of the King and People’s Revolution (20 August 2000), in which HM the King ordered that “mosques should remain open to provide literacy courses and religious, civic and health education according to a well-developed program”.
This program, which reflects the special interest which the Sovereign, Commander of the Faithful, constantly attaches to the development of the human element, has also enabled Mosques, these places of worship and invocation of God, to regain their place at the forefront of guidance, spiritual orientation and literacy, as well as their role in building a democratic, modern, open society based on the rejection of exclusion and marginalization, the fight against poverty and ignorance.
The national program to combat illiteracy in Mosques, which is implemented by the ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs, has been able, thanks to the Royal High Solicitude, to yield very positive results that far exceed the objectives initially set, due, in particular, to an increase in the number of Mosques participating in it and a rise in the number of supervisors, coordinators and educational advisers.
Thus, since its launch in 2000, this program has benefited more than 3,300,000 people, with 314,854 registered for the 2018-2019 school year alone, including 236,286 at the first level and 78,568 at the second. The ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs has mobilized some 7,077 mosques for this school year and has assigned some 8,032 supervisors, 1,164 coordinators and educational advisers and 400 educational trainers to ensure the implementation of the program.
In addition to the national program to combat illiteracy in mosques, the ministry also oversees the implementation of the program to fight illiteracy through television and the Internet.
To ensure the full success of these programs and sustain their achievements, the ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs undertakes, for the year 2019-2020, to pursue the implementation of the recommendations of the Higher Council for education, training and scientific research on literacy, in accordance with the strategic vision for the reform of the education and training system 2015-2030.
It will also work to improve the program’s coverage rate in rural areas, increase the number of beneficiaries among men, promote and diversify means and methods of education and teaching, by investing more in new information and communication technologies, in addition to setting up a graduation system giving beneficiaries access to educational bridges between the program and different national training systems.
