Dakar, Jan 24 (APS) – The Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, Abdourahmane Diouf, invited the legislator to comply with social demand by giving the French and all other national languages the same meaning in the National Assembly.
” It is society that is ahead. What the legislator, the State, must do is to comply with this strong social demand and change the legislation so that French, Wolof and other national languages have the same meaning in the National Assembly ” ‘ , he said.
The Minister participated, Thursday, in literary meetings in Wolof ‘Pecum Maam Yunus Jen, Li Xalimay Wax’ ‘(The Mame Younouss Dieng – What Books Say), organized in place of African Souvenir by the Association ” Fonk Sunuy there.
The novel ” Nitu Embroach ‘from Cheikh Adramé Diakhaté, his former French teacher at the Lycée Abdoulaye Sadji de Rufisque, was presented on this occasion.
Mr. Diouf took the example of his visit to the law committee to the National Assembly to defend the 2024-2025 budget of his department where, he said, he was forced to speak in Wolof given the circumstance.
“It was not planned by the texts, but social demand was such, including in the parliamentary environment, that I had to speak in Wolof. Besides, this is one of the reforms that we have introduced. Now there is an automatic interpretation, ”said the Minister, referring to the digital simultaneous interpretation system introduced to the Senegal National Assembly since December 10, 2014.
He believes that policies must today be at the same level as society.
Abdourahmane Diouf said that it is the second way to create law when the company itself impulses it, and afterwards, the legislator adapts to it.
The first way, he recalled, is when you create a rule of law and people, society, adapt to it.
For most of the time, in our country, that’s what we did, because we were colonized, we inherited our rights. (…) We imported a republic and we comply with these prescriptions which come from other republics ”, he explained.
For him, ” This is what shows that the Senegalese already find it difficult to discipline themselves, because we have enacted rules of law that do not leave the depths of our society and we are obliged to adapt to it ‘ ‘.
-The Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation considers that the important thing is not the language which is the vehicle, ” although it is a foreign language ”. But, ” is the understanding of the message. And the message is particularly understood, ” he insisted.
” Senegal is one of the few African countries with a real public opinion, which impacts because everyone speaks Wolof. Everyone understands Wolof. We do not need to do great studies to understand now the Constitution, criminal law, budgetary debate in the National Assembly. Since everyone understands, everyone is expressed and we have a public opinion that makes us democracy that we are ”, he pointed out.
Abdourahmane Diouf who paid tribute to all teachers, in particular, his French teacher Cheikh Adramé Diakhaté, promised to receive supporters of the establishment of a national language academy.
I agreed to receive them. We are going to do an assessment. And on the basis of this evaluation, we will discuss with them and we will take the necessary reforms, ‘said the minister.
He also promised to receive the association ” Fonk Sunuy theremmin ” which was at the origin of this meeting.
“We are going to try to see how to make our national languages really take another scale in the Senegalese Republic ”, he said.
In Senegal, the introduction of national languages into preschool and primary education has become effective in 13 academies since the 2024-2025 school year.
FKS / ASB / OID
