Algeria removes 'Islamic study' subject from secondary school books
Algeria, Education, 6/28/2005

The Algerian President Abdul Aziz Butaflika on Monday signed a decision for the removing the "Islamic study" subject from being taught in secondary schools and the Baccalaureate certificate, thereby defying a strong opposition from the Islamic trend.

Few weeks earlier, the Algerian government announced a plan to abrogate this subject from the secondary school curricula, noting that it prefers to postpone specialization in Islamic Sharia study to university learning. This step provoked acts of protests among Islamic students and parties, including the Peace Society Movement, which is a member in the government coalition.

Following a meeting on Sunday, the Cabinet held a meeting chaired by Butaflika strongly criticized the opposition. In a statement, the Cabinet said it "deplores political debate which surfaced over the abrogation of the Islamic sciences branch in the second education," stressing that "this measure has been approved." The statement stressed "the enhancement of teaching Arabic language as an educational language for all ( subjects ) and specializations in all parts of the educational systems."

The Arabic language is facing strong competition from the French language in education and daily official dealings.

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