In the Libyan city of Zuwara, a majority-Berber community near the border with Tunisia, teacher Assirem Shawashi encourages her nine-year-old pupils to approach the board, one by one, to draw out Amazigh symbols.
“The Amazigh language is not just about the alphabet and vocabulary, but it’s a whole culture and identity that we’re passing onto pupils,” the teacher told the Agence France-Presss (AFP).
“We try to instil in the pupils the comprehensive Amazigh spirit,” she added.
Twelve years ago, under Muammar Gaddafi, the Amazigh community was condemned to a clandestine orality. The first classes in Tamazight were held in Zuwara in 2012. Tamazight has been the native language of indigenous people across North Africa since pre-Roman times. It has undergone a revival in Libya since Gaddafi’s four-decade rule ended in a 2011 revolution.
The school director, Sondoss Saki told AFP about “difficult beginnings” due to a lack of trained teachers and uncertainties around the program to follow.
“It’s a difficult situation as it’s a new language that’s entering school curricula, and our children don’t know it. They speak it at home, but it’s difficult for them to study and write the language, because it’s a new subject that has just entered the government’s system,” Saki added.
Also on air since 2012, Kasas FM is the first local radio station in the Tamazight language broadcasting in Zuwara.
“The people of Zuwara are Amazigh, and they speak Tamazight. So, the best and easiest way to reach citizens and convey information, messages, and advertisements is to speak the language that they use at home, in the streets and at institutions, its the closest and most comfortable language for them,” the programme director at Kasas FM, Ismail Abudib affirmed.
According to AFP, 10% or so of Libyans are Amazigh, a large indigenous population of the whole of North Africa, which was present long before the Greek, Roman, and Arab conquests in the 7th century.