Education Ministry: “Baccalaureate and BEM exams slated before month of fasting of Ramadhan”

The Minister of National Education, Nouria Benghebrit, announced Thursday in Algiers that the 2016 Baccalaureate and the Middle School Certificate (BEM) exams will be organized before the holy month of fasting of Ramadhan expected this year in early June.

The Ministry of National Education has decided to “introduce changes to the exam schedule, notably regarding the Baccalaureate and Middle School Certificate (BEM),” said Ms. Benghebrit in a statement to reporters on the sidelines of her meeting with the Unions in the sector, assuring that such reviewing steps will occur well before the month of Ramadhan.

The national education ministry “want to set the dates of the examinations in close coordination with the social partners represented by the sector’s unions and with the associations of the pupils’ parents by setting up an ad hoc working group which will be operational as from today Thursday”, the minister asserted.

“The official dates of the 2016 Baccalaureate and BEM exams will thus be announced in about ten days,” Ms. Benghebrit said, adding that the relevant proposals already made to this effect will be carefully studied in the framework of the working group.

The national education minister also called on teachers and the social partners to “ensure the smooth running of the second and third semesters of the school year and the completion of the curricula across all educational institutions.”

Ms. Benghebrit explained that this decision to overhaul the exam schedule was in response to pressing requests put forth for this purpose by Baccalaureate candidates.

The BEM exam was originally planned from 7 to 9 June 2016 and that of the Baccalaureate from 12 to 16 June, 2016.