The Refinement Schools in Bordj Bou Arréridj from Reformist Outlets into Fields of Fighting

Abstract

The Free Schools played a prominent role in preserving the Algerian identity during the colonial period in front of French regular schools that were betting on creating a generation that did not believe in the existence of an Algerian nation before 1830. In Bordj Bou Arréridj province, the Association of Algerian Muslim 'ulama, (jam'Tyat al-'ulama al-muslimin al-jaza'iriyyn) set a network of free schools, which had been shifted, after the outbreak of the Algerian Revolution, from reformist outlets into  fields of fighting, as they provided the Algerian Liberation Front and Army with dozens of students most of whom fell martyrs.