The educational system receives 500,000 new students annually

The Minister of National Education confirmed that the educational system receives an annual increase estimated at about 500,000 new students, which imposes great pressure on infrastructure and human resources.

Saadawi explained during a hearing before the Education Committee of the National People’s Assembly that the total number of students reached 12 million students this season, compared to only 814 thousand immediately after independence, recording an increase rate of 22.26% during the last seven years, with an annual growth rate of approximately 4%.

Saadawi revealed that the number of employees in the sector reached two million and 88 thousand and 782 employees, including 630 thousand and 641 professors who ensure educational supervision, including 466 thousand female professors, equivalent to 70 percent of education employees. He pointed out that this high percentage of women in the sector is linked to several considerations, including the nature of the first educational stage that requires educational support close to the students, which women are very proficient in.

The minister confirmed that the sector’s budget reached 10.5 percent of the state’s total budget in 2026, which reflects the state’s commitment to improving the quality of education, noting that the financial budget allocated for the establishment of educational institutions amounted to 136 billion dinars, revealing that the cost of building a school complex in primary education rose from 7 billion five years ago to 24 billion currently, stressing the need for field follow-up to translate these amounts into equipped institutions and facilities worthy of students and employees.

The Minister announced that the sector received 712 new educational institutions this season, including 435 primary schools, 194 middle schools, and 83 secondary schools, bringing the total number of school structures to 30,308 educational institutions across the country. He also spoke about the expansion of the network of support structures, as the sector currently counts 17,737 typical school canteens, and 5,86 semi-boarding houses, indicating the declining need for boarding houses compared to the increasing demand for semi-boarding rooms.

The minister touched in detail on the professors’ employment file, explaining the difference between the process of integrating 82,410 contract professors in March 2025, and the current temporary contract in preparation for the competition. He stressed that the previous integration was an exception to regularizing the status of contractors who had gained two years’ experience in the absence of a competition, while the current situation is completely different because the competition has been open since December 2025 with 40,500 positions, and the current contract is temporary and clear from the beginning.

The Minister revealed the details of the decision to freeze training before integration into the new ranks, explaining that Basic Law 25-54 issued in January 2025 divided those concerned with integration into three categories according to seniority, and indicated that the category with seniority between 4 and 7 years was subject to the training condition, which raised widespread objection in the field and trade union organizations that considered integration a right that should not be subject to the training condition.

The minister said that he decided to freeze training in refusal to continue with a program in which trainees come under duress, stressing that the solution will be through amending the basic law to delete the training requirement and enable those concerned to be directly integrated.

Pedagogical improvements and English language enhancement

The Minister reviewed the pedagogical trends of the sector, emphasizing the gradual improvement of the educational system and strengthening the teaching of the English language, which has become taught in the third year of primary school, where 14,939 specialized teachers were employed in the primary stage. He also pointed to re-adjusting the timings of the third year of primary school to reduce programs and adapt the contents to the cognitive abilities of the students, with the process continuing gradually in the fourth and fifth years.

The Minister revealed the allocation of 17,632 teachers to supervise the physical education subject in primary education, as part of the sector’s efforts to promote school sports and discover sports talents. He announced the launch of the school sports season in coordination with the Ministry of Sports and the Algerian Federation of School Sports, under the slogan “Our heroes are in our schools,” aspiring to reach “Our heroes are from our schools.”

He also pointed to the launch of the national “inter-secondary” competition broadcast by two national channels, and the school innovation competition dedicated to robotics, stressing that the sector counts 51,507 cultural clubs, 12,574 science clubs, 95 robotics clubs, and 99 artificial intelligence clubs. He also revealed that the number of printed textbooks for the current season reached 83 million 460 thousand and 549 books, including 166 titles, in addition to 36 1,951 books using Braille technology for students with visual challenges.

He explained that the number of students benefiting from the free school book reached 4 million and 174 thousand and 175 students, including needy students, children of sector employees, and all first-year primary school students. The Minister indicated that the sector sponsors 12 thousand and 577 students with special needs in regular departments, and 428 students who continue their education in special departments in hospitals, and 20 thousand and 117 students who hold a foreign nationality, and 36 thousand. And 434 students born in a foreign country.

He revealed that the number of Palestinian children studying reached 207 students and 1,729 Sahrawi students, stressing that the Algerian state opens doors to everyone in order to embody the right to education. He announced the imminent launch of an electronic educational platform for the Algerian community residing abroad, within the framework of the digital transformation of the sector.

The Minister explained that the number of school restaurants open at the primary level reached 17,976 restaurants, for the benefit of 4.8 million students, of which 17,660 restaurants provide hot meals, 98 percent of them. He revealed that the state has allocated 60 billion dinars to improve school feeding, in addition to 10.47 billion dinars from the contributions of states and municipalities, indicating that the number of beneficiaries of school solidarity operations reached 998,759 students. He pointed out that more than one million students benefit from the school transportation service via 18,314 buses, meaning more than 90 percent of those concerned.

The Minister concluded his presentation by stressing that the sector’s vision is based on a two-sided equation: quality education and benefiting from scientific knowledge on the one hand, and guarding national identity and protecting its pillars on the other hand.

He said that modern school does not mean abandoning the components of national identity, but rather a combination of launching into everything technological, digital and scientific, and preserving national identity, considering that national education is a guardian of national identity, and stressed that the state will not be stingy in pumping more funds in response to field requests and taking care of students, within the framework of the state’s social policy and preserving its social character.