The Government of National Accord (GNA) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Italy in advance to introduce the Italian language in the secondary school curricula.

The Italian embassy stated on its Twitter account on Wednesday that the Italian language will be officially taught in Libyan upper secondary schools starting from 2020/2021 school year.

The memorandum of understanding was signed between Libya's Education Minister, Mohamed Amari Zayed, and the Chargé d'Affairs of the Italian Republic to Libya, Walter Di Martino.

According to the agreement, Italy is to train Libyan teachers on how to teach the Italian language.

The media office of the Minister of Education said that the move comes within the framework of fruitful cooperation between Libya and Italy and the treaty of friendship, partnership, and cooperation signed between the two countries in Benghazi 2008.

It may be worth noting that the teaching of the Italian language in Libyan schools had been raised during the former minister's office, Othman Abdel Jalil.

Abdel Jalil discussed back in Mars 2019 with the Italian embassy the possibility of teaching the Italian language in schools as an optional language, as well as training the teaching staff in the Italian departments of the Libyan universities and providing books and educational materials to support the plan.