Rabat, March 24, 2006 (WAM) -- The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ISESCO has offered 540 typing machines using the Arabic script to ten African countries who are member to the Organization.

These are namely: Burkina Faso, Chad, Senegal, the Sudan, the Gambia, Guinea, Union of Comoros, Mali, Niger and Nigeria.

The Ministries of Education in the concerned countries will supervise the distribution of the typing machines among institutions and centres working in the field of literacy through the use of the Arabic standardized script.

It is to be noted that the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has in cooperation with the Islamic Development Bank and the World Islamic Call Society, and in coordination with a number of national and regional scientific institutions produced a typing machine to write sixteen African language with the Arabic standardized script.

These languages are: Pulaar (Fulfulde), Songhai (Zarma), Hausa, Kanuri, Tamachek, Malink (Bambara), Soninke, Sarakuli, Wolof, Comori, Swahili, Aromo, Dinka, Lukbara, Lukanda and Euroba. These languages were originally written in Arabic letters and then substituted by Latin letters during the colonial period. The peoples speaking these languages live in the west and east regions of Africa.

ISESCO has previously published a number of studies on these languages as well as some cultural books and educational curricula dealing with illiteracy combating in the African languages through the use of the Arabic standardized script.