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Algeria: Education
Gordon Foley
5/21/09
Hjelmgren 1
Algeria: Education
Today in Algeria there are about 5 million people currently in school. This number was not always this high. In fact it was not until Algeria gained its independence that the number if students nearly doubled. Also the lack of funding is resulting in outstanding teachers for some regions and not so great teachers for the remaining schools. Finally with so many students and limited spots, the world of University is becoming unreachable for some people who 15 years ago could have succeeded in school without a problem. The problem is that with this sudden explosion of ready and willing scholars, the government was not prepared and therefore, because of lack of space, people are not getting a proper education.
In Algeria education is free to whoever would like it from ages five through 16. Then from there people who would like to continue their education either go to an Algerian university or study abroad. The expansion of education has led to government officials thinking about creating a law that will “Smash free education” which will lead to the downfall in numbers of students ("Private universities sooner in Algeria."). This bill will privatize the Algerian University. Before the country gained its independence there were only about 2.5 million students in Algeria, and there were no problems with this small number.
This recent outbreak can be directly linked to Algeria gaining its independence from France. Once France handed control over to the Algerians the people of Algeria jumped at every chance of and education that passed them by. In the past there has been no trouble and very minimal competition for the students to get into colleges and even medical schools. In response to the heightened demand, the ministry of education has raised the threshold for admission to several schools. “"In previous years, Baccalaureate holders could enrol in the institutes of IT or Polytechnics with an average score of 12/20," said one frustrated student, Nadir. "Today I'm told that's impossible."” This quote is from a student in Africa, whose dreams of being enrolled in a private university have been crushed by the huge pressure of the average score ("Algeria's high bac success rate means more competition for university applicants.") Only about 33% of the candidates went to their first choice of program even though they were more than qualified. This seems like a lot but for medical programs only about 12,000 people are accepted. The government had had trouble with placements of all of these people, in fact the Minister of Higher Education said, "Twelve thousand spots are available in medical courses for the next university intake," he said, "but those passing the baccalaureate with 'excellent' or 'good' ratings number nearly 13,000. We didn't force the bac holders into taking one course or another, [but] even with an average score of 14/20, it would be difficult to get into a medical course.("Algeria's high bac success rate means more competition for university applicants.")" The average score of students needed to get into the medical programs has gone up as well making it even harder for these fantastic students to go places in life.
In order to stop this, the government is using very different approaches. One approach is that Algiers National Education Minister is opening the Algerian international school, which will teach its classes in French and in English. Not only will this school be academically advanced, it will be given an internet system. All of this came out of a meeting between Boubekeur Benbouzid, the Algeirs National Education Minister, and the principals of private schools and other private educational establishments (UMCI News (Potomac Falls, VA) (Sept 18, 2008) Global Issues in Context.). The other approach is to make all schools private in order to suffocate the growth of scholars, but this plan is still a bill waiting to be passed and may not ever be passed. So the plan of opening up more schools is the right path to follow for this issue because with the number of people willing to pay for their educations, the government should be able to build multiple schools for them.
5/21/09
Hjelmgren 1
Algeria: Education
Today in Algeria there are about 5 million people currently in school. This number was not always this high. In fact it was not until Algeria gained its independence that the number if students nearly doubled. Also the lack of funding is resulting in outstanding teachers for some regions and not so great teachers for the remaining schools. Finally with so many students and limited spots, the world of University is becoming unreachable for some people who 15 years ago could have succeeded in school without a problem. The problem is that with this sudden explosion of ready and willing scholars, the government was not prepared and therefore, because of lack of space, people are not getting a proper education.
In Algeria education is free to whoever would like it from ages five through 16. Then from there people who would like to continue their education either go to an Algerian university or study abroad. The expansion of education has led to government officials thinking about creating a law that will “Smash free education” which will lead to the downfall in numbers of students ("Private universities sooner in Algeria."). This bill will privatize the Algerian University. Before the country gained its independence there were only about 2.5 million students in Algeria, and there were no problems with this small number.
This recent outbreak can be directly linked to Algeria gaining its independence from France. Once France handed control over to the Algerians the people of Algeria jumped at every chance of and education that passed them by. In the past there has been no trouble and very minimal competition for the students to get into colleges and even medical schools. In response to the heightened demand, the ministry of education has raised the threshold for admission to several schools. “"In previous years, Baccalaureate holders could enrol in the institutes of IT or Polytechnics with an average score of 12/20," said one frustrated student, Nadir. "Today I'm told that's impossible."” This quote is from a student in Africa, whose dreams of being enrolled in a private university have been crushed by the huge pressure of the average score ("Algeria's high bac success rate means more competition for university applicants.") Only about 33% of the candidates went to their first choice of program even though they were more than qualified. This seems like a lot but for medical programs only about 12,000 people are accepted. The government had had trouble with placements of all of these people, in fact the Minister of Higher Education said, "Twelve thousand spots are available in medical courses for the next university intake," he said, "but those passing the baccalaureate with 'excellent' or 'good' ratings number nearly 13,000. We didn't force the bac holders into taking one course or another, [but] even with an average score of 14/20, it would be difficult to get into a medical course.("Algeria's high bac success rate means more competition for university applicants.")" The average score of students needed to get into the medical programs has gone up as well making it even harder for these fantastic students to go places in life.
In order to stop this, the government is using very different approaches. One approach is that Algiers National Education Minister is opening the Algerian international school, which will teach its classes in French and in English. Not only will this school be academically advanced, it will be given an internet system. All of this came out of a meeting between Boubekeur Benbouzid, the Algeirs National Education Minister, and the principals of private schools and other private educational establishments (UMCI News (Potomac Falls, VA) (Sept 18, 2008) Global Issues in Context.). The other approach is to make all schools private in order to suffocate the growth of scholars, but this plan is still a bill waiting to be passed and may not ever be passed. So the plan of opening up more schools is the right path to follow for this issue because with the number of people willing to pay for their educations, the government should be able to build multiple schools for them.
"Algeria's high bac success rate means more competition for university applicants." UMCI News (PotomacFalls, VA) (August 22, 2008) Global Issues in Context. Gale. NEW TRIER HIGH SCHOOL - District 203. Retrieved 18 May 2009, from Global Issues in Context
via Gale: http://ntesx01-lic.nths.net:2094/gic/start.do?prodId=GIC
This website showed me about how competitive schooling was getting in Algeria.
"Private universities sooner in Algeria."
"NorAH seeks more investments in Algeria - Bishara." UMCI News (Potomac Falls, VA) (Feb 4, 2009) Global Issues in Context. Gale. NEW TRIER HIGH SCHOOL - District 203. Retrieved 18 May 2009, from Global Issues in Context
This website showed how recently this has sparked and why it started so quickly.
"Private universities sooner in Algeria." UMCI News (Potomac Falls, VA) (Sept 13, 2008) Global Issues in Context. Gale. NEW TRIER HIGH SCHOOL - District 203. Retrieved 18 May 2009, from Global Issues in Context
This website talked about the schools being opened and how hard it was to succeed here.
UMCI News (Potomac Falls, VA) (Sept 13, 2008) Global Issues in
Context. Gale. NEW TRIER HIGH SCHOOL - District 203. Retrieved 18 May 2009, from Global Issues in Context
This website helped me with how the government is reacting and how they are trying to fix the problem
Last Updated by Gordon Foley 5/21/09
via Gale: http://ntesx01-lic.nths.net:2094/gic/start.do?prodId=GIC
This website showed me about how competitive schooling was getting in Algeria.
"Private universities sooner in Algeria."
"NorAH seeks more investments in Algeria - Bishara." UMCI News (Potomac Falls, VA) (Feb 4, 2009) Global Issues in Context. Gale. NEW TRIER HIGH SCHOOL - District 203. Retrieved 18 May 2009, from Global Issues in Context
This website showed how recently this has sparked and why it started so quickly.
"Private universities sooner in Algeria." UMCI News (Potomac Falls, VA) (Sept 13, 2008) Global Issues in Context. Gale. NEW TRIER HIGH SCHOOL - District 203. Retrieved 18 May 2009, from Global Issues in Context
This website talked about the schools being opened and how hard it was to succeed here.
UMCI News (Potomac Falls, VA) (Sept 13, 2008) Global Issues in
Context. Gale. NEW TRIER HIGH SCHOOL - District 203. Retrieved 18 May 2009, from Global Issues in Context
This website helped me with how the government is reacting and how they are trying to fix the problem
Last Updated by Gordon Foley 5/21/09
