Algeria forces Francophone schools to adopt Arabic curriculum but says all languages are welcome

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Algeria is rebuffing accusations that efforts to crack down on French private schools constituted hostility toward the langauge. After weeks of outcry against the country’s efforts to crack down on schools not following the predominantly Arabic national curriculum, Education Minister Abdelkrim Belabed said over the weekend that all languages were welcome in Algeria. His remarks come as Algeria joins the ranks of countries throughout Africa in which schols are transitioning away from French and toward English. Though French is widely spoken in Algeria, langauge issues have been fraught with politics since the country wrested independence from France in a war more than 60 years ago.