School-children in an Algerian school

Under French rule the huge majority of highly-educated Algerian citizens were French settlers and other Europeans. Most of these people left immediately after Algeria gained independence in 1962. Since the 1970s governments have made education a priority, and today it accounts for some 40 per cent of government spending. But the task has been made difficult by the sheer number of children in Algeria – 42 per cent of the population is aged under 15. In some places the number of pupils per teacher is so high that children go to school in shifts.

The typical school day starts at 8am. Extreme mid-day temperatures in desert regions mean that school-work has to stop for a rest period between late morning and mid-afternoon. All Algeria’s schools are state-run; private schools were abolished in 1976. Officially, attendance is compulsory for all children between 6 and 16 years old. In practice, many children leave school at 13 or earlier, while five per cent of school-aged boys and 15 per cent of girls go out to work rather than attending school. There are 18 major universities or technical colleges in Algeria, and about 12 per cent of schoolchildren go on to higher education.

Thousands of Saharawi children have grown up in the refugee camps of the Western Sahara. Each of these four huge camps has its own primary school, with up to 2,500 pupils aged 11 to 14. There are two boarding-schools outside the camps for older students.

When the camps were first set up 24 years ago, 90 per cent of the children were illiterate. Today, 95 per cent of Saharawi children can read and write. This turn-around is all the more the remarkable in view of the limited resources in the Western Saharan camps.

More about the refugee camps

Read a traditional Algerian story

Photo by Sean Sprague/Panos

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