Amid debates about the role of French in its former African colonies, Algeria clarifies that its education reforms aren’t hostile to the French language.
The country’s Education Minister, Abdelkrim Belabed, emphasizes the value of multilingualism and states that no languages are being targeted.
While Algeria has a significant number of French speakers, it is following the African trend of emphasizing English and indigenous languages, prompting a reevaluation of French in education.
This year, Algeria is expanding English language courses in elementary schools and enforcing a law requiring private schools, including those primarily teaching in French, to follow the national curriculum.
Belabed defends these measures as essential for promoting the country’s core values.
French’s role in Algeria has been a topic of discussion since gaining independence over 60 years ago, closely tied to Algerian nationalism.
Algeria has around 680 private schools serving over 11 million students, with only a few offering dual-language curricula.
These changes align with the introduction of English language courses in elementary schools and the integration of English into the core curriculum of public universities, particularly in science classes.