ALGIERS – The Minister of National Education, Abdelhakim Belaabed hailed, on Wednesday, the “courageous and important” decisions taken by the President of the Republic, Mr. Abdelmadjid Tebboune for the benefit of teachers, affirming that the country’s high authorities have placed taking charge of the educational community “at the top of their priorities in the reform process”.
In a message on the occasion of International Teachers’ Day, Mr. Belaabed affirmed that “the country’s high authorities have placed the care of teachers at the top of their priorities in the reform process which constitutes one of the axes of the Government’s Action Plan resulting from the program of the President of the Republic, Mr. Abdelmadjid Tebboune”.
Welcoming the “courageous and important” decisions taken on various occasions by the President of the Republic for the benefit of the education sector and teachers, the Minister specified that it is in particular “the revision of the special status with the association of approved trade union organizations in the sector, with a view to improving the socio-professional situation” of education officials, as well as “the revision of teachers’ salaries from 2023”.
In view of the importance he attaches to education issues, President Tebboune insisted on the imperative of “putting oneself equidistant from the educational and pedagogical interest of the student and the socio-economic interest of staff in the sector” through “the promotion of teachers’ working conditions and the upgrading of their salaries and, therefore, strengthening their place in society and improving their level of educational and technical qualification with a view to adapt to current progress in the fields of educational sciences, computer science and digital education”, the Minister maintained.
He reviewed the various decisions taken by the President of the Republic to improve the purchasing power of the citizen, by approving increases in order to ensure him a decent salary, including through the revision of the National Salary guaranteed minimum (SNMG) and the cancellation of the global income tax (IRG), in addition to “the decision announced at the opening of the work of the Government-Walis meeting concerning the revision of teachers’ salaries at the beginning of the ‘next year”.
As such, the Minister of National Education affirmed that the sector which won the challenge of mobilizing a sufficient number of teachers to supervise the students, is constantly working to improve teaching and working conditions in the teacher, and to create a safe and motivating school environment.
The sector, he continues, has endeavored to mobilize all the necessary educational resources, without neglecting the aspect of educational training, of all types, in order to facilitate their work and achieve the expected objectives.
He made a point of recalling, moreover, the opening of “36,000 budgetary positions for the 2022 financial year for promotion to the rank of head teacher and teacher trainer in the three school levels”, which “will be reflected positively in the socio-professional life of teachers”, he argued.
In the same vein, the Minister highlighted the efforts made with all the social partners with a view to “responding to the concerns raised within the framework of the legislative and regulatory provisions in force”, adding that this partnership “has materialized during the examination and enrichment of the preliminary draft of the special status of civil servants belonging to the specific bodies of National Education, through the organization of a series of meetings with a number of trade unions within the sector in the framework of respect, knowing that these meetings have been extended to deepen the reflection on the preliminary draft and give it a better chance of succeeding”.
The Minister recalled, in this context, that his sector had launched several reform projects and programs set out in the Government’s action plan, part of which was carried out during this new school year, “which is capable of promoting the teaching and to promote innovative didactic practices according to the national referent”.
Welcoming the high moral qualities demonstrated by Algerian teachers during the Covid-19 pandemic, Mr. Belaabed indicated that in the context of returning to the usual education system and abandoning the exceptional system in force for the past two years , the start of the new school year was marked this year by several new features which, he believes, “will contribute to the promotion of our education system and the improvement of its performance”.
Among these innovations, the Minister cited “the teaching of the English language in the third year of the primary cycle and the recruitment of more than 5,000 contractual teachers for this purpose, as well as the creation of the arts sector offering four choices, recalling the opening of a national high school for the arts”.
In the same vein, he highlighted the taking of new measures to lighten the weight of school bags for primary school pupils, namely the use of a second copy of the school book “Kitabi” (my book) which will be kept in lockers or cupboards at the level of the establishments or the digital book and the provision of 1,629 establishments with electronic tablets. A measure that will be gradually extended to all schools in the country.
In conclusion, Mr. Belaabed expressed his gratitude and esteem to all the “dedicated teachers who have devoted their lives to the profession and to the teaching of the children of their country”, stressing that the ambition of the sector was “the promotion of the Algerian school and the response to the aspirations of the Algerian people”.
