Nomadic Schools and French Colonial Educational Policy in Algeria: A Case Study of the Nememcha Region (1896–1902)

Abstract

The experiment of nomadic schools in late nineteenth-century Algeria represents one of the most significant attempts by the French colonial administration to adapt its educational policy to the realities of pastoral and tribal societies. Following the regulatory decrees of 1883 and 1892، the authorities established itinerant schools aimed at integrating nomadic populations within the framework of colonial education. The case of the Nememcha tribe (1896–1902) illustrates both the colonial ambition to control indigenous society through education and the resistance of local communities to cultural assimilation، highlighting the tension between imperial educational strategies and the persistence of traditional modes of life in colonial Algeria.