Figure 1.--This is the nursery school class in 1948 which is made up of both boys and girls. Most of the children wear smocks, but they apparently not required and not all of the boys wore them.

Here we have a French primary school (ecole) in Oran, Algeria--the Ecole Gambetta. We note several school photographs in the 1940s and 50s. There is no school uniform. Many of the boys wear smocks, but they do not seem to be required and there is no standard style. Many of the boys also wear short pants. All we know about the school is what can be imduced by the available images. We notice boys and girls in the nursery school class (maternell), but the primary classes we have seen or all boys. We were confused at first as there were two Ecole Gambetta in Oran, but this school has the one on Rue Shakespere.

The School

We have virtually no information about the school. There were two ecoles named Ecole Gambetta in Oran. We are not sure just who Gambetta was why he was so important that two schools in the same city were named after him. We do notice a French statesman named Leon Gambetta (1838-82). He helped organize French resistance to the Germans during the Franco-Prussian war (1870-71). He played a major role in the early years of the Third Republic. Just what his association with Oran is we do not know. This school was located on Rue Shakespere.

Students

It is a little difficult to tell, but the children look mostly like French children. We do see, however, some children that are clearly Algerian. This shows that the school admitted Algerian children, but that apparebntly few Algerian parents wanted to send their children to French schools. The language may have been a factor as the schools like the Ecole Gambetta were taught in France. There may well have been other factors which kert the Algerian children from the school. Hopefully readers will provide us some background information here.

Gender

School photographs from the Ecole Gambetta suggest that it was not common to teach boys and girls togerher in the same class. Some schools were separate. Others separated the classes within the school. The only major exception was the nursery class.

Classes

We note school photographs of classes from different grade (form) levels at the Ecole Gambetta. We notice all the different grade levels from maternelle through CM2. The boys in these different grades wore a wide range in outfirs which varied both by age and chroolgically. We also note a difference seasonally with more boys wearing short pants in the war werather. Kneesocks were not very common, exceopt when worn with knickers.

Chronology

We do not know when the Ecole Gambetta was founded. The images we note come from the post-World War II era. There are quite a few photographs from the 1940s and 50s. We do not have any photographs from the 1960s. Algeria gained its independence in 1961 and most of the French people returned to France at this time.

School Internet Site

The school has an internet site. There are quite a number of photographs, but very little information about the school.

French Grade Levels

The grade levels at the French schools in Algeria followed the system in France. This would of course be the old French system before the reforms of 1968.