Primary Education and the French Army During the Algerian War of Independence

This chapter approaches the history of children and childhood in Algeria through the history of education. Using archival sources and testimonies from For the French military, investing in the primary education of Algerian children fulfilled the double objectives of dissuading Algerian support for the nationalist revolution and engaging in human development initiatives designed to keep Algeria under French rule. Sources for the study of Algerian childhood include colonial administrative documents regulating children’s daily lives, oral interviews, and written testimonies. School attendance figures prominently in autobiographical memoirs of individuals who grew up in Algeria during the period of the revolutionary war, as evident in the literary sources used in this chapter. This chapter demonstrates the detrimental effects of the French military's educational strategy in three phases: the conflict over school buildings; the French military’s efforts to break the general strike of January 1957; and the organization of primary education in regroupment camps of forcibly displaced Algerians. The final section explores the conflicts that arose between civilian and military instructors. Studying the primary education provided by the French military is crucial to a better understanding of children’s experiences of a militarized society during the Algerian War of Independence.