~ 4TH CHANNEL BRINGS SCHOOL HOMES ~

[HOUDA-K]

By Houda Filali-Ansary

The new Moroccan channel “La Quatrième,” will start broadcasting today. This first education channel will provide viewers with courses and documentaries, many of which will be in Darija.

Three shop keepers discuss intensively, in Berber. They have a problem, and they do not know how to explain it to their partner, a Fassi-looking entrepreneur in an expensive suit. Only the Fassi reassures them… in their own language. The man explains to his bewildered assistance that he speaks Tamazight, Tachelhit and Tarifit, all thanks to “Al Rabea.”



It has been a few days now since this add started being aired on TV, along with several others of the same kind. They are aimed at informing TV viewers of the launch of Morocco's educational channel: “Al Rabea,” also called “La Quatrième.”

“Al Rabea,” will start broadcasting today at 5 o'clock. It will provide viewers with all kinds of educational programmes such as documentaries, education-support items, language classes, road safety lessons or cultural magazines.


“We hope this project will have a strong positive impact on the development of the Moroccan audiovisual scene,” said Minister of Communication and Government spokesperson Nabil Benabdallah.

This new channel comes only months after the creation of the Laâyoune regional channel and that of "Al Maghribiya." However, “Al Rabea” comes with a big difference: this is Morocco's first educational channel, and its organizers already plan to use it to help Baccalaureat students obtain better results than last year.

“This project will undoubtedly help the educational reform,” said Moroccan Minister of Education Habib El Malki at the presentation press conference, last Friday.

“Al Rabea” is particularly aimed at women and young people aged between 15 and 35. With programmes mainly in Darija, it is seeking to have an optimal impact on Morocco's multilingual population.

Viewers will be provided with six daily hours (17:00 to 23:00), two of which will be produced by Moroccan production companies. The daily sessions will also include a one-hour programme devoted to consciousness rising in a variety of domains, prepared with the help of organisms such as Foundation Mohammed VI for the Protection of the environment and road prevention. Another hour will be dedicated to remedial courses organised with the help of the Ministry of Education. The remaining two hours will be dedicated to internal productions and purchased programmes.

Schedules will be heavier on weekends with emissions from 12:00 to 23:00


Directed by Maria Latifi, who is also known for having directed 2M's “Namadij”, the new channel will have a yearly budget of MAD 75 Million provided by the Ministry of Communication who took the funds from the Aid to National Production Fund. The new structure is already equipped with MAD 7 million worth of equipment and employs 30 young people – most of them technicians.

Like “Al Maghribiya,” “Al Rabea” will benefit from strong support from TVM, which will help it produce 47% of its programmes internally. However, “Al Rabea” is also counting on the production of part of its programmes by external companies.

In all the organisers of this new project plan to bring schools into homes to educate those who cannot go to school, such as women. It is a pity though that the channel will be accessible only by satellite ("Eutelsat 2" and Hotbird). It is true urban Morocco is equipped with satellite dishes down to its very last shanty towns, but rural populations, which should be the first beneficiaries of the channel, will be deprived of much of its benefits...

[Najat_]

An education channel - sounds great!
I thought rural areas were equipped with satellite dishes too....at least in the rural areas of Nador you see an ugly forest of dishes. And you get the impression that TV constitutes a not so small part of people's lives.

The question is whether an educational channel is able to compete with entertaining TV like all the popular soap operas watched by millions of Moroccan viewers. In fact I know a lot of especially women who have their entire day strictly planned according to TV programmes Years ago a lot of young women without a job were into stiching and dressmaking or cooking. Now they watch other people do the work!

If they tuned over to educational TV the illiteracy rate might rise to a less embarrassing level!