Algeria: “School Truce in Force Until Post-Baccalaureate Period”

Pupils of the secondary end of year cycle returned Sunday to school across the various provinces of Algeria after waging a week-long strike over a set of pedagogical claims which were finally endorsed by the national education ministerial department in a bid to salvage the current academic year from damaging entropy.

The protesting pupils wanted the setting up of a “threshold” to courses in order not to find themselves with a burdensome syllabus of courses to learn and to revise ahead of next June’s Baccalaureate exam which gives access for the lucky laureates to higher university studies.

Most of the pupils’ demands were fulfilled by the education Ministry which notably rescinded an earlier decision to scrap the upcoming spring holidays as well as the exams set for the second school semester in addition to other facilitating measures aimed at paving the way for a smooth holding of the 2014 session of the crucial Baccalaureate exam.

The education ministry has also worked out a special remedial program within schools destined to all pupils of the secondary end of year cycle allowing them to catch up with the backlogs of lessons lost as a result of the recent protracted strike-action in order to allow them to brace for the forthcoming major exam in the most appropriate conditions.