The National Assembly of Mauritania has adopted a new law introducing national languages in primary education, but the text is contested by the black Mauritanian community who say they fear that Arabic will be imposed on them.
The law was passed Monday evening by a majority of deputies, controlled by the ruling party.
It introduces for the first time science education at the primary level in mother tongues, while imposing the teaching of Arabic to non-Arabs and at least one national language to Arabic speakers, according to official documents. French will continue to be taught from primary school.
The Mauritanian population is made up of Arab-Berber, Haratine (descendants of slaves of Arab-Berber masters, whose culture they share) and Negro-Mauritanian communities, generally of mother tongues of sub-Saharan ethnic groups (Peuls, Soninkés, Wolofs).
Negro-Mauritanian communities have denounced since the country’s independence in 1960 what they call a cultural hegemony of Arabic, the official language spoken by the majority of the population, and are calling for the officialization of their languages.
The new law aims to “put an end to the alarming deterioration of the national education system”, National Education Minister Mohamed Melainine Ould Eyih told the deputies. It results, according to him, “from a debate over a long period which brought together all the skills and national sensitivities”.
The new text constitutes a “progress insofar as children begin their learning in their mother tongue”. It “will allow them to acquire and master knowledge more easily,” opposition MP Kadiata Malick Diallo told AFP.
She suggested an amendment to Article 65 to remove the ambiguity denounced by non-Arabs in the text of the law, but her initiative was rejected, she said.
Article 65 indicates that “Arabic is taught to all children whose mother tongue it is not as a language of communication and as a language of instruction”.
Two people demonstrating against the new text were arrested and five injured Monday evening during a sit-in in front of Parliament before the adoption of the text, the Organization for the Officialization of National Languages said in a statement on Tuesday ( Olan).
The sit-in was organized by the Olan, made up of Negro-Mauritanian activists, who denounced “the repression” against its activists. She considers that “by this law, Mauritania deprives sections of its population of a fundamental right of cultural expression”.
She demands “the immediate officialization of national languages” and denounces article 65 of the new text which, according to her, “consecrates linguistic injustice in the country”.