Ahmed Krim spent 30 years teaching English in Algeria’s middle schools. Now retired, the 60-year-old watched the language he loved remain firmly behind French as the country’s second language. English was less valued than French, which might have been the language of Algeria’s coloniser, but continues to be present in every dialogue, six decades after independence.
On July 25 , Algeria’s Education Minister, Mohamed Seghir Saadaoui, announced that English will become the sole foreign language taught in the third year of primary school in the new academic year for 2026-2027. French would be pushed back to the fourth year, ending its domination of foreign language classes in Algerian schools. From next month, eight-year-olds across Algeria will become the first to learn English before French.
But it requires thinking, planning and resources,” Krim told Al Jazeera. It is among the first steps in President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s linguistic overhaul for Algeria, which he first outlined in 2022 with English being introduced to primary schools. Since then, medicine and science faculties have begun switching from French to English.
The French language has been erased from some utility bills and Air Algerie tickets. Road signs are beginning to feature English alongside Arabic, while government ministers’ websites will also have English as an option. The shift from French to English as Algeria’s secondary language is both sweeping and structural.
It comes amid the most serious diplomatic crisis between the two countries since Algeria’s independence from France in 1962. In July 2024, French President Emmanuel Macron publicly backed Morocco’s sovereignty claim over Western Sahara. Algeria, which supports the Sahrawi Polisario Front and hosts over 170,000 Sahrawi refugees, viewed that as highly provocative.
That, and other issues, saw Algeria expel French diplomats, and vice versa. Algeria’s replacement of French as the country’s second language accelerated after the diplomatic crisis grew. A rethink of the whole education system in Algeria may be needed.
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