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Algeria has more French speakers barring France and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Nearly 15 million people out of the country’s population of 44 million speak French, according to the International Organization of the French Language
Algeria says that efforts to force Francophone private schools to adopt the country’s national curriculum do not constitute hostility toward the French. According to Algeria’s education minister Abdelkrim Belabed, no languages were being targeted and noted that multilingualism was among the education system’s major achievements.
Algeria has more French speakers barring France and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Nearly 15 million people out of the country’s population of 44 million speak French, according to the International Organization of the French Language. But Algeria is among the nations throughout Africa placing a greater emphasis on English and Indigenous languages. It is also, in the process, reevaluating French’s role in school and society. This is true for a few other countries in the Francophone region. For instance, Mali changed its constitution to remove French from its list of official languages. Morocco made English classes compulsory in high schools.
This year, Algeria is expanding English language courses in elementary schools. It is also proposing to enforce a law requiring that private schools — including ones that have taught almost exclusively in French — abide by the predominantly Arabic national curriculum.
Though French remains widely used in Algeria, the language has been subject to political questions. Algerians hark back on their freedom struggle, and the brutal force used by the French in the seven-year war that followed, which finally culminated in the country attaining independence some 60 years ago. Its political leaders and freedom fighters adopted the slogan: Algeria is my country, Arabic is my language and Islam is my religion.
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There are only 680 private schools in Algeria, which educates more than 11 million students. A few have French as the medium of instruction. Some follow double curriculums in both languages to prepare students for higher education. Some private schools, as against the laid down rule, try to add English language courses in elementary schools, which goes against the laid down language policy of the government.
