The Collège d'Azrou, also known as the Collège Berbère,[1] was a school established in 1927 by the French Protectorate in Azrou, Morocco.[2]
History
editAfter 1920, French instituteurs, who were rigorously prepared in an Amazigh dialect[which?] and trained as teachers and intelligence gatherers, were assigned to schools in rural areas for speakers of Amazigh languages.[3] The Collège d'Azrou, one of these schools that was developed into a collège, was one of the instruments for the implementation of a Berber Dhahīr[3] and to "help form an Amazigh elite that would help France implement its divide and rule policies."[4] It trained its Amazigh students for high roles in the colonial administration, as well as forming "a Berber elite steeped in French culture, in an environment where Arabic influences were rigorously excluded."[3][5] This hierarchical educational system was designed to "guarantee an indigenous elite loyal to France and ready to enter its service," though its permeability in practice made it a "vehicle of social mobility."[3]
After the end of the French protectorate in Morocco in 1956, the school became Lycée Tarik or Lycée Tarik Ibn Ziad, named after the Umayyad commander.[2]
Notable alumni
edit- Rachid Idrissi, nuclear chemist
- Mohamed Chafik, first rector of the IRCAM
References
edit- ↑ جدلية, Jadaliyya-. "La Langue Amazighe : Parcours et Entraves de Son Enseignement au Maroc". Jadaliyya - جدلية. Retrieved 2026-04-13.
- 1 2 Benhlal, Mohamed (2005). Le collège d'Azrou: une élite berbère civile et militaire au Maroc, 1927-1959. Coll. Terres et gens d'islam. Paris : Aix-en-Provence: Karthala ; IREMAN. ISBN 978-2-84586-599-0.
- 1 2 3 4 Miller, Susan Gilson. (2013). A history of modern Morocco. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-62469-5. OCLC 855022840.
- ↑ Gottreich, Emily (2020). Jewish Morocco. I.B. Tauris. doi:10.5040/9781838603601. ISBN 978-1-78076-849-6.
- ↑ Young, Crawford (1979). The Politics of Cultural Pluralism. Univ of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-06744-1.