Arabic graduates always have problems with professional integration. Often, they only find themselves in teaching even though they have engineering, doctor, or journalist degrees. They demand an Arabic-language university and media. By Justin GOMIS –
The integration of Arabic speakers into the professions in Senegal is still an acute issue. Professor Babacar Diallo, Director General of the Center for Advanced Studies in Dakar, argues: “They must be included in all professions.” To correct “this injustice”, a partnership agreement was signed this Saturday between the Movement of Arabic Speakers of Senegal and the Arab Department of Dakar Sciences Po. “This initiative started two years ago. We have seen that Arabic speakers experience many difficulties in their professional integration. However, among them, there are many graduates in very large sectors. But, if they are not teachers, they have absolutely nothing,” lamented the director of Dakar Sciences Po.
It is for this reason that a Department of Political Science in Arabic was created within its establishment to better equip these Arabic speakers. “We saw that there was a problem at this level. We had the idea of creating a Department of Political Science to make a department entirely dedicated to Political Science, but in Arabic. We decided, within the framework of the Entrepreneurial Department of Dakar Sciences Po, to ensure that Arabic speakers can find the tools they need to be autonomous actors in their own destiny by creating their own activities,” he said. he explained. And the decision of President Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye to create a Directorate of Religious Affairs and the integration of Arabic-speaking graduates could advance their cause. “This decision reinforces what we are doing,” he said, while recalling that Arabic is the language through which God sent down the Koran.”
According to Professor Babacar Samb, the evil is deeper than that. Because, apart from the fact that these people, who master Arabic and who have high-quality diplomas, are not taken into the trades, there is no newspaper or television in Arabic in the country. “A large Arab country wanted to develop a program to honor a Senegalese, they asked for a structure in Arabic, but there was none,” regrets the director of Dakar Sciences Po.
-According to Professor Samb, these Arabists did not learn Arabic only to teach the language or to be imams. “They must be included in all professions, because you can learn Arabic to be a farmer, agronomist, doctor, among others,” calls Professor Samb, urging the country’s authorities to direct the scholarships granted by Arab countries in these areas. “When Arab countries give scholarships, what will the students do? These are not scholarships oriented in these areas. We give them scholarships to go to Cairo, to Saudi Arabia to do whatever. It is Senegal which must say that I want scholarships in areas like agriculture and oil. There are Arabists who, in their training, can be specialized in areas of development in all sectors,” he asserts.
No longer wanting the integration of Arab speakers to be a matter of political politics, the actors invite the authorities to look into these evils, to help Arabic speakers to develop newspapers and radio stations in Arabic and to introduce them to the digital field. . In the same vein, they also ask the State to create an Arabic-speaking university. “The State is still challenged. When we created the generalized Arab baccalaureate, it was a bomb. If we have all the Arabists who want to go to university, they can only go to the Arabic department. Every year, there are nearly 1,000 people who have a high school diploma and can only go to the Arab department. We cannot include everyone in education. We need an Arabic-speaking university like Chad has, which has two systems. The French-speaking system, which will go up to the doctorate, and the Arab system which also goes up to the doctorate. As long as we have not created a university for Arabic speakers, we have not yet done anything. It will be a university where agronomy and agriculture will be taught. Which makes us Arabists,” underlines Professor Babacar Samb. According to him, we need all specialties and all trades. But unfortunately, Senegal still has an obsolete education and training system, copied from the French model. But while waiting for their requests to be taken into account, the Arabists intend to put in place a national and international system which will take this problem into account.
It should be remembered that the President of the Republic, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, announced, during the 61st edition of the annual ziarra of the Omarian Family of Louga, his desire to elevate the Directorate of Religious Affairs and the integration of graduates in Arabic at the rank of a Delegation of Religious Affairs and Worship to better institutionalize relations between the State and religion. “Measures will be taken in this direction to strengthen the Directorate of Religious Affairs, with a view to raising it to the rank of Delegation of Religious Affairs and Worship, but also to better support the daaras,” said President Faye. He explained that “this institutionalization of relations between the State and religion is an essential step to preserve the Senegalese exception and guarantee social regulation”, before reaffirming “the State’s commitment to strengthening its links with the religious centers of the country.
[email protected]
