Morocco’s Mosque Literacy Program Reaches 4 Million, Majority Women

During a presentation on "the generalization of literacy centers in rural areas", at the House of Advisors, the Minister of Endowments and Islamic Affairs, Ahmed Taoufiq, made a partial assessment of this program which aims to fight illiteracy by introducing courses in mosques.

Between 2002 and 2022, some 4,008,668 Moroccans have enrolled in the program, the minister said. In detail, the number of beneficiaries in rural areas since its launch has reached 1,737,786, or 41.29%. This number is 136,621 for the current school year, or 45.96% of the total enrolled.

This year, the literacy program has benefited from a government envelope of 180 million dirhams, of which 81.7 million dirhams are earmarked for the rural world, he stressed, reaffirming the ministry’s willingness to expand the targeting in remote areas "if the necessary financial resources are made available to it".

It should be noted that a total of 3,709 supervisors oversee these beneficiaries in 3,538 mosques, 494 of which have been opened as part of the "1,000 reading points" program launched by the ministry to contribute to the creation of areas without illiteracy and the achievement of a society of reading and education.