In the 10 years since the launch of a broad-based teaching reform programme in 2003, Algeria has seen a number of initiatives targeting improvements in curriculum and instruction, but often with mixed results. In a bid to ensure that the existing reforms are able to have their intended effect on the sector Algeria's education minister is working with a variety of stakeholders to review both the progress the country's schools have made since 2003, along with the challenges they continue to face.
With a large young population, Algeria's education sector is crucial not only to sustaining employment but also to buttressing efforts at economic diversification, but with enrolment increasing dramatically, pressure on existing resources is growing and past reforms have struggled to keep pace with the rise in demand. As a result, the Ministry of National Education (MoE) is looking to pursue a strategy of more inclusive consultation to help strengthen development of the sector.
"Improving teaching quality through the involvement of all of the relevant players is among the priority objectives for the education sector," Abdelatif Baba Ahmed, minister of national education, stated in September of last year. As a result, the government has been looking to formalise interaction not just with local administrators but also with teacher unions and parental associations. In January 2013, a meeting was held between the ministry and the National Federation of Student Parent Associations to discuss the progress of the 2012/13 school year, the first meeting of its kind. Additional consultations were held between February and April 2013.
The focus of these stakeholder meetings, which hitherto were a relatively rare occurrence for Algeria's primary and secondary education sectors, will focus not only on soliciting greater input from students, parents, teachers and administrators but also on the performance of the various reform programmes since their implementation - particularly in terms of curriculum, teacher training, and the management and administration of the sector.
The initial 2003 reforms came about as a result of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's national education reform commission, itself only created two years prior, as part of the commission's comprehensive strategy to boost the quality of education by raising teacher qualifications and modernising teaching methods, curricula and textbooks. Reforms were extended under the 2005-09 Programme for the Support of Economic Growth by raising admission rates for high schools and higher education institutions.
When launching the review of the 2003 reforms, Baba Ahmed explicitly stated that certain aspects of the reform are not up for discussion. The results of the review, and the subsequent comments on the process and final report by the various stakeholders, will evaluate to what extent execution can be improved and initiatives better targeted. Algeria has seen broader education indicators improve over the past 10 years, including the overall literacy rate, but the sector has grappled with some significant challenges, such as inadequate infrastructure and limited human resources capacity, which has prompted the government to significantly increase spending in the sector.
In 2010 the government allocated some AD852bn (€8.3bn) to a five-year investment plan, with much of this funding to go toward the construction of new schools. Under the strategy, the government plans to construct another 3000 primary schools and 1000 middle schools to increase the pace of work to improve infrastructure and relieve overcrowding in classrooms.
The ministerial review comes at a crucial time, with a wave of new students entering secondary schools in the 2012/13 school year. Reforms in 2008 saw a reduction in the total number of years for primary school, resulting in students under both the old system and the new system entering secondary school in the same year. To meet the capacity challenges, the MoE has renewed attention on construction projects for schools and is working with local governments to ensure the necessary projects are completed. Enrolment has risen fivefold over the past 20 years, and is expected to increase by another 800,000 students to reach 2m by 2020.
The MoE has also indicated that it plans to launch a massive hiring initiative and focus additional resources on training existing teachers. A total of 11,500 additional teachers were recruited in August 2012 for the 2012/13 academic year, for example, prioritising secondary schools, which require more than 8000 teachers for subjects such as mathematics, computer science, physics, languages and philosophy.
To further improve primary and secondary education, plans are underway to establish a National Curriculum Council and National Council for Education and Training. Both organisations would be separate from the MoE and would be tasked with providing criticism and recommendations for improving instruction and teaching standards. How the education system is ultimately able to deal with the doubling of students entering the secondary system this year, and indeed whether the economy is able to absorb these students after completing their education and training, will be the true test of the capacity and quality of Algeria's transitioning education sector.
© Oxford Business Group 2013
