Algerian students take baccalaureate exams

15/06/2007

Approximately 700,000 pupils across Algeria have been sitting their Baccalaureate examinations since June 9th. According to forecasts from Education Minister Boubekeur Benbouzid, 70% of students are expected to pass.

By Lyes Aflou for Magharebia in Algiers – 15/06/2007

[Getty Images] Many candidates were surprised by the difficulty of the exam

The national education ministry has set its sights on a baccalaureate (bac) pass rate of more than 70% nationwide for the approximately 700,000 pupils sitting for the exam this year. Boubekeur Benbouzid, Minister of National Education, said that he hopes the high pass rate will demonstrate the results of "efforts made to reform the education system".

Speaking as the envelope containing the first Arab literature examination was opened at the Mohamed Boudiaf high school in Dar El-Beida on June 9th, Benbouzid added that the bac examination in Algeria is "the toughest in the world, and its results are the best, because our aim is to have an effective, top-performing education system which offers pupils high-quality training so that they can be best prepared for their specialised higher education".

Many pupils sitting for the bac are candidates at large, or those that have failed the test in the past. These pupils are no longer affiliated with a school and so they must demand a seat at the exams on an independent basis. Candidates at large represent 37.6% of test-takers this year, an increase of 80% compared with last year. Benbouzid felt the increasing number of candidates at large was positive, showing "the importance accorded by Algerian society to education and training".

The minister also expressed his satisfaction at the number of girls taking the examinations, which has risen to 58.01%, another aspect which shows that the Algerian educational system "does not marginalise girls, and rather it is boys who are more likely to drop out of the school system."

Many candidates for the bac were surprised by the difficulty of the exam although opinions vary according to subject and series.

Dalila Zaichi, a girl taking the bac at Omar-Racim High School, spoke with Magharebia after her mathematics examination. She felt she "hardly knew where to start", something which worries her, given that this is an essential subject to the career in natural and life sciences she plans to pursue.

But Zaichi does not feel discouraged, She firmly beleives that she will catch up in the following tests. "I can’t miss the bus now, after all the work I’ve put in over the year," she said.

At the Pasteur examination centre in the city centre the scene was similar. Groups of pupils sat around, holding text and exercise books, preparing for the afternoon session.

Omar, sitting apart, in front of the entrance, immersed in a thick history textbook, said that "up until now, all the examination subjects have been manageable." Omar is sitting his bac as a candidate at large in the human sciences branch for the third time, and he stressed the importance of being "really determined" to come through all sorts of tests in life, not just those encountered at school. For him, "a diploma is like a certificate for existing."

The anguish and stress of the examinations do not only haunt students. Some parents outside the schools revealed their own difficulties. Linda Nasra, the mother of one test-taker, expressed her worries, "particularly the fear of failure, which started well before the Baccalaureate exams".

"I don’t show my anguish, but it’s boiling away inside me," said Nasra.

Candidates for the Arab Literature baccalaureate examinations stressed the complexity of the topics for the Arab language paper on the first day of this decisive examination.

At Frères Hamia High School in Kouba, A. Walid, a candidate in the literature and human sciences section, said that he had not expected to come across such complex questions. "We were pretty certain that the topics would concentrate on poetry, and that is why we concentrated our efforts for the whole year on this kind of literature. So we were very surprised when we found the opposite," he declared.

The government took steps to reduce the amount of cheating on the exam, namely by forbidding the use of mobile phones in the testing centres. Nonetheless, testing was marred when a number of students in Khenchela attacked their proctors for preventing them from cheating on the exams. One bac candidate slapped a teacher in the face, causing her to faint from shock.

The results of the bac examinations will be announced in early July.