Sensitive Topic: Algeria To Teaching English In Primary Schools
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced earlier this year that the former French colony will begin teaching English in primary schools.
“French is a spoil of war, but English is an international language,” he said.
Algeria gained independence from France in 1962, following an eight-year bloodbath that has strained relations between the two countries.
The continued use of French in institutions and business administration is a sensitive subject.
The official languages of the country are Arabic and Tamazight, which is spoken by the Amazigh or Berber minority.
President Tebboune was responding to growing demands from academics and undergraduates in an interview broadcast on state-run television on Saturday.
They argue that English should be taught earlier because it is the language of instruction at universities for those studying medicine and engineering.
Students in secondary school begin learning English at the age of 14, while students in primary school begin learning French at the age of nine.
The president’s remarks are an excerpt from a lengthy interview that will be aired in its entirety later on Sunday.
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In the early 1990s, a similar initiative was launched to allow parents to choose between French and English for their children in junior school.
However, it sparked outrage in France, and a pro-French lobby within Algeria’s government demanded that the scheme be scrapped.
Finally, the education minister was fired.
Sensitive Topic: Algeria To Teaching English In Primary Schools
