Abstract

This article aims to demonstrate that French language was maintained in Morocco through the cooperation policy. It shows how diplomats shaped the image of French, in a context of language policy reforms, as a language of modernity and science in Moroccan public schools. In 1959, Morocco started the Arabization reform, aiming to teach all courses in Moroccan public schools in Arabic. However, the reform quickly stopped in 1965 due to a lack of human and technical resources. This situation allowed French cooperation policy, mainly based on sending French aid workers and training Moroccan teachers, managed to maintain French as the main language of education, particularly in scientific disciplines. However, it is important to note that French diplomats were not against Arabization reform, even though it was considered as a treat to French language. By training and sending French teachers in Morocco, they shaped to