Much like Morocco, which saw a recent survey by the British Council discover that there was considerable support for replacing French as the second language with English, Algeria is now also leaning toward a shift to English as well, as we reported was on the cards in Issue 481 of the EL Gazette, which came out in July.
According to the middleeastmonitor.com, the country’s president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, has now told primary schools to begin teaching English from this school year. “French is a spoil of war, but English is an International language,” he said in an interview on state-run TV back in July.
He was referring to Algeria’s history with France and it’s colonial legacy in the North African country, which has left a bad taste in the mouths of many here. English, however, is seen as the language of science, technology and commerce.
Moving toward English as a replacement for French is not a new idea here either. It was first mooted by the former Minister of Higher Education Rachid Harraoubia back in 2010, when he said work had already started on “the possibility of introducing the English language instead of French in universities, especially in scientific and technological branches.”
