Education

According to government statistics, 85% of all children between the ages of 6 and 13 years are enrolled in schools, amounting to some 5.8 million students in elementary and middle schools and 839,000 high school students during the early 1990s. Since 1976 all education has been controlled by the state, private schools having been abolished.

Although education has been compulsory for all children aged between 6 and 15 since 1976, by 1989 nearly 40% of the entire population over 15 still had no formal education; and nearly 57% of over-15s have been registered as literate. With 42% of the population under the age of 15, education will remain a major challenge for the government for the foreseeable future.

There are 10 universities in Algeria accommodating over 160,000 students. Aside from the University of Algiers, there are universities and technical colleges in Oran, Constantine, Annaba, Batna, Tizi Ouzou and Tlemcen.