Ministry of National Education | |
---|---|
General details | |
Primary languages | Arabic, French . |
Literacy (2015) | |
Total | 80% |
Male | 87% |
Female | 73% |
Education in Algeria is free and compulsory for Algerians from the ages of 6 to 15. [1] However, only half of Algerian students are enrolled in secondary schools. [2] As of 2015, Algeria has 92 post-secondary institutions, which includes 48 universities. [3]
Before the French conquest of Algiers in 1830, religious lands called hubus paid for Muslim teachers. [4] When the French colonized Algeria, they seized the hubus, which ended traditional education funding. [4] During the colonization of Algeria, Napoleon III reestablished the usage of madrasa schools and created primary schools that were both in Arabic and French. [5] However, during the Third Republic, the Parisian government tried to assimilate Algerians into the French culture, but their policies were frustrated by french colonists who blocked funding for new schools. [4]
After the war for independence, Algeria introduced several policies to reform and strengthen the educational structure. The Ministry of Education was created in 1963. [6] Arabization of the school curriculum—replacing French language and values with Arab language and values—was a key priority of the new ministry. [7]
In Algeria, 24% of children were enrolled in pre-school as of 2004. [8] New reforms have been implemented since 2003 to make pre-schooling more accessible.
Primary school lasts for 5 years. [6] Then, students move on to 4 [9] years of lower secondary school and 3 additional years of upper secondary school. [6] Primary and Lower Secondary Education, which is termed "Enseignment Fondemental" is the basic education that everyone is required to receive. [10] If students wish to pursue higher education, they must take the baccalauréat, a national exam. [6]
There are approximately 57 public institutions for higher education, which include "27 universities, 13 university centers, 6 national schools (écoles nationales), 6 national institutes (instituts nationaux), and 4 teacher-training institutes (écoles normales supérieures)." [6] As of 2015, Algeria has 92 post-secondary institutions, which includes 48 universities. [3] People typically study three years for a bachelor's degree, two years for a Master's Program, and three years for a doctorate. [6]
Students in Algeria are primarily taught in Arabic, although teachers have been allowed to teach in Berber as of 2003. Berber teaching is allowed in Algerian schools to remove the complaints of Arabization and need for non-Algerian teachers. [2] In 1994, Kabyle pupils and students boycotted Algerian schools for a year, demanding the officialization of Berber, leading to the symbolic creation of the Haut Commissariat à l'Amazighité (HCA) in 1995. Berber was subsequently taught as a non-compulsory language in Berber speaking areas. [11] As of 2017, 350,000 pupils were studying tamazight in 38 wilayas out of 58, [12] representing 4% of all students. [13] 90% of them study tamazight in Latin characters. [14] [15] In 2018, the government announced that optional classes of tamazight will be offered in all public primary and secondary schools in the future. [16] [17] The generalization of Amazigh education was met with some opposition in Arabic-speaking areas. [18] As of 2023, according to the education minister, education in Amazigh is still being rolled out to all Algerian schools. [19]
Before colonialism, Algeria was home primarily to Arabic and Berber speakers. [4] Due to Algeria's French colonial past, French was the first foreign language taught in Algerian schools. [20] However, a month before independence, Algerian revolutionary leaders declared that the future State would be committed to arabisation. [21] Ahmed Ben Bella implemented linguistic arabisation laws in primary schools and required teaching in Arabic on all levels from 1963/1964. [21] [7] In 2004, language restrictions were enforced that made 90% of all teaching in Algerian schools in Arabic. [22] In November 2005, Parliament passed laws that banned private schools from teaching in any other language but Arabic. [21]
Linguistics has been a source of contention for the Algerian educational system. The shift from bilingualism in French and Arabic to monolingualism in Arabic has created issues with graduates trying to enter the economic market. [21] [7]
The literacy rate in Algeria has improved significantly in the decades since independence from France. In 1950, the Algerian adult literacy rate was less than 20%. [23] After independence in 1962, more than 85% of the population was still illiterate. [24] As of 2015, Algeria's literacy rate is estimated to be around 80%, higher than the literacy rates of Morocco and Egypt, but lower than Libya's literacy rate. Of the 2015 literacy rate, 87% of Algerian males are literate, compared to 73% of Algerian females. [25]
Since the Multilingual National Strategy for Literacy was put in place in 2008, over 3.6 million Algerians have been lifted out of illiteracy. Between 2008 and 2022, the illiteracy rate fell from 22.30% to 7.4%. Algeria's efforts have been rewarded with the 2019 UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize. [26]
Education makes up 28% of Algeria's national budget. [27] Algeria has one of the largest shortages of teachers in Northern Africa, with 200,000 primary teachers needed to help reach the United Nations's Sustainable Development Goal for education, as of 2016. [28]
The number of children enrolled in school has increased significantly post-independence. In 1962, there were only 750,000 children enrolled in primary school and 3,000 students attending universities. [29] By 1984, there were more than 900,000 students enrolled in school and 107,000 students in college. [29] In 2005, enrollment rates were about 97% at primary school level and 66% at secondary school level. [30]
Statistics by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics for the 2011–2012 academic year: [31]
Pupils | Census |
---|---|
Primary school | 3.452.000 |
Lower secondary school | 3.240.000 |
Upper Secondary school | 1.333.000 |
Total | 8.023.000 |
The Berber languages, also known as the Amazigh languages or Tamazight, are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They comprise a group of closely related but mostly mutually unintelligible languages spoken by Berber communities, who are indigenous to North Africa. The languages are primarily spoken and not typically written. Historically, they have been written with the ancient Libyco-Berber script, which now exists in the form of Tifinagh. Today, they may also be written in the Berber Latin alphabet or the Arabic script, with Latin being the most pervasive.
Demographic features of the population of Algeria include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects.
Kabylia or Kabylie is a mountainous coastal region in northern Algeria and the homeland of the Kabyle people. It is part of the Tell Atlas mountain range and is located at the edge of the Mediterranean Sea.
Kabyle or Kabylian is a Berber language (tamazight) spoken by the Kabyle people in the north and northeast of Algeria. It is spoken primarily in Kabylia, east of the capital Algiers and in Algiers itself, but also by various groups near Blida, such as the Beni Salah and Beni Bou Yaqob.
Arabic, particularly the Algerian Arabic dialect, is the most widely spoken language in Algeria, but a number of regional and foreign languages are also spoken. The official languages of Algeria are Arabic and Berber, as specified in its constitution since 1963 for the former and since 2016 for the latter. Berber has been recognized as a "national language" by constitutional amendment since 8 May 2002. In February 2016, a constitutional resolution was passed making Berber an official language alongside Arabic. Arabic is spoken by about 81% of Algerians, while Berber languages are spoken by 27%. French, though it has no official status, is still used in media and education due to Algeria's colonial history. Kabyle, with 3 million speakers, is the most spoken Berber language in the country, is taught and partially co-official in parts of Kabylie.
Béni Ounif is a town and commune in Béchar Province, Algeria, coextensive with the district of Béni Ounif. It has a population of 10,732 as of the 2008 census, up from 8,199 in 1998, and had an annual growth rate of 2.8%, the second highest in the province. The commune covers an area of 16,600 square kilometres (6,400 sq mi).
Education in the Syrian Arab Republic is given the necessary attention and care by the Syrian state, as the Constitution of Syria guarantees the right to education to every citizen, which is compulsory and free at primary level. It is free but not compulsory at the secondary level and higher education is available for a symbolic fee. the primary level includes 3 stages, 1 which include grades 1 to 6, while 2 includes grades 7 to 9,and lastly 3 grades 10 to 12
Education in Mali is considered a fundamental right of Malians. For most of Mali's history, the government split primary education into two cycles which allowed Malian students to take examinations to gain admission to secondary, tertiary, or higher education. Mali has recently seen large increases in school enrollment due to educational reforms.
The education system in Morocco comprises pre-school, primary, secondary and tertiary levels. School education is supervised by the Ministry of National Education, with considerable devolution to the regional level. Higher education falls under the Ministry of Higher Education and Executive Training.
Algeria has more than 45 independent Arabic language and French language publications as well as 4 government-owned newspapers, but the government controls most printing presses and advertising. The Algerian newspapers with the largest circulations are Echourouk (1,800,000), Ennahar (1,600,000), El Khabar (1,000,000) and Quotidien d'Oran (700,000); all four are employee-owned. In 2004 and 2005, the government increased the access of Berber language and culture to both print and broadcast media.
Education in Madagascar has a long and distinguished history. Formal schooling began with medieval Arab seafarers, who established a handful of Islamic primary schools (kuttabs) and developed a transcription of the Malagasy language using Arabic script, known as sorabe. These schools were short-lived, and formal education was only to return under the 19th-century Kingdom of Madagascar when the support of successive kings and queens produced the most developed public school system in precolonial Sub-Saharan Africa. The first known malagasy native to have received a western education and able to write Latin script is Andriandramaka, a prince from Fort Dauphin in the region of Anosy. However, formal schools were largely limited to the central highlands around the capital of Antananarivo and were frequented by children of the noble class andriana. Among other segments of the island's population, traditional education predominated through the early 20th century. This informal transmission of communal knowledge, skills and norms was oriented toward preparing children to take their place in a social hierarchy dominated by community elders and particularly the ancestors (razana), who were believed to oversee and influence events on earth.
Berriane is a medium-sized town and commune in the south of Algeria, coextensive with Bérianne District, in Ghardaïa Province, Algeria. It is located in the north of the Sahara desert, in the extreme North of the wilaya of Ghardaïa, 554 kilometres (344 mi) south of Algiers and 43 kilometres (27 mi) north of Ghardaïa City. As of the 2008 census it has a population of 30,200, up from 24,802 in 1998, with an annual growth rate of 2.0%. It occupies an area of 2.250 km2.
Arabic, particularly the Moroccan Arabic dialect, is the most widely spoken language in Morocco, but a number of regional and foreign languages are also spoken. The official languages of Morocco are Modern Standard Arabic and Standard Moroccan Berber. Moroccan Arabic is by far the primary spoken vernacular and lingua franca, whereas Berber languages serve as vernaculars for significant portions of the country. The languages of prestige in Morocco are Arabic in its Classical and Modern Standard Forms and sometimes French, the latter of which serves as a second language for approximately 33% of Moroccans. According to a 2000–2002 survey done by Moha Ennaji, author of Multilingualism, Cultural Identity, and Education in Morocco, "there is a general agreement that Standard Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, and Berber are the national languages." Ennaji also concluded "This survey confirms the idea that multilingualism in Morocco is a vivid sociolinguistic phenomenon, which is favored by many people."
Bounoura is a town and commune in Ghardaïa Province, Algeria. According to the 2008 census it has a population of 35,405, up from 27,775 in 1998, with an annual growth rate of 2.5%. It is effectively a suburb of the provincial capital Ghardaïa.
Ethnic groups in Algeria include Arabs and Berbers, who represent 99% of the population, of which 75–85% are Arab and about 15–25% are Berber. Algeria also has a minority population of Europeans that represents less than 1% of the population. The minority European population is predominantly of French, Spanish, and Italian descent.
Tamazight of Djerba, Shilha of Djerba, Djerbi or Djerbian is a Berber language of the Eastern Maghreb, spoken on the island of Djerba, in Tunisia. It is a component of what is regularly denominated Tunisian "Shilha" or "Chelha" in the south of the country.
The Haut commissariat à l'amazighité is a government department in Algeria overseeing the Berber (Amazigh) sphere.
Tamazight, or Standard Algerian Berber, is the standardized national variety of Berber spoken in Algeria. It is under active development since the officialization of Berber in Algeria in 2016.
Fodil Mezali is an Algerian journalist, editor-in-chief and managing editor.
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