Tamazight (Berber) language teaching in Batna

El Watan: About 40 teachers of Tamazight in the Aures attended a seminar set up by the HCA (High Commission for Amazighity). The Batna director of education announced that Tamazight classes had been set up in mountainous areas of the wilaya, and were being taken by 584 primary school students and 782 high school students in six high schools. In Batna, a wilaya with more than 377,000 people of school age (ONS 1998) where, according to the inspector Benaggoun, "90%" of people speak Tamazight, this tiny figure was blamed on budget shortages which prevented the hiring of enough teachers.