Around 560,000 Algerian students to take BAC examination

2006-05-09

The baccalaureate (BAC) examinations are expected to take place 3 June in Algeria. About 560,000 candidates will be testing for a place at a university or other higher education institution.

By Mohand Ouali for Magharebia in Algiers – 09/05/06

[File] Benbouzid

About 560,000 students will be taking the baccalaureate (BAC) examinations in June Education Minister Boubekeur Benbouzid said, adding that 260,000 students would also sit for the Brevet d'Enseignment Fondamental (BEF) examination, which marks the end of the middle-school cycle and qualifies the student to move on to an upper school. The education minister said that access to secondary education from now on will be "only on the basis of the average achieved at the BEF examination".

Around 730, 000 students will have to take the examination marking the end of the primary cycle. The competitive examination had been discontinued with the introduction of a new school system that guaranteed education to the age of 16, but was reintroduced because of poor achievement records.

Algerian schools have undergone a series of reforms over the past few years, which are expected to restore quality to an educational system suffering from problems and tarnished by the low levels of success on the BAC and BEF examinations.

The Benzaghou Commission, named after its chairman, was given the task of diagnosing problems in the Algerian school system and submitting its reform proposals. Despite opposition to the conclusions of this commission, the recommendations have been gradually introduced into the school system.

Preparations for the next school year are also forging ahead. However, classrooms are only going to be welcoming about 7.57 million pupils in 2006-2007. The tendency towards having smaller classrooms has become noticeable in recent years and is a sign that Algerian families are having fewer children than usual.

However the need for school infrastructures remains as great as ever. Education Ministry Planning Director Ameziane Medjdoub said that 284 new primary schools, 165 middle schools and 64 upper schools will be ready at the start of the next school year, adding that the facilities will add a total of 210,000 school places. Additionally, 250 extra cafeterias will be built to benefit 57 per cent of primary school pupils.

Another recurrent difficulty in Algerian education concerns the availability of teaching materials. Around 51,200,000 textbooks are expected to be printed and should be provided to schools before the summer holidays. Parent associations often complain that the books are poorly distributed and cost too much. The Education Ministry is looking into the possibility of using the school bursary to help students purchase books.