Figure 1.--Here we see the Ecole de Momplaisant Garçons in 1951. I'm not sure what class this was, but would guess that it is a CE1 class. Notice that many of the boys wear smocks.

We note some images of the Ecole de Momplaisant Garçons during the 1950s. It was a state primary school for boys in Oran, Algeria. We do not know anything about the school. We note that the school was operating after World War II. We do have some images of the school during 1951. We notice many boys wearing smocks at the school. As with other schools, there was no requirement and there are smocks of many different styles. The boys all seem to be wearing short pants. Most of the boys look to be French, but there are several Algerian boys as well.

The Students

School attendance was compulsory, although much more common in the cities than in the countryside. Most of the boys look to be French, but there are several Algerian boys as well. There were no separate schools for Algerian and French children. Many school images we have show mostly French children. This was in part because the schools reflected the ethnic makeup of the neighborhoods where the schools were located. We assume there were also schools with mostly Algerian children.

The School

The Ecole de Momplaisant Garçons was a state primary school for boys in Oran, Algeria. We do not know anything about the school. I'm not sure what Momplaisant means. Perhaps it was a neigborhood in the city. We note that the school was operating after World War II. The school seems to have been a fairly substantial one. There seem to be more than one class for the various forms. This seems to have been the case for many of the city schools.

Chrononology

We note some images of the Ecole de Momplaisant Garçons during the 1950s. We do have some images of the school during 1951. We do not have images from any other tears. The various images, however, do give us a good idea of the school clothes that were commonly worn in the early 1950s. We note quite a wide variety of clothing among the different classes, even the same grade (form) level. In particular some school photographs show the boys weraring smocks more than other photographs. We are not sure why this would be.

Classes

We notice the same standard classess (forms) at the school that we have noted at other French and French Algerian Schools. The school photographs we have found look to be mostly CE claases.

Clothing

We notice many boys wearing smocks at the school. As with other schools, there was no requirement and there are smocks of many different styles. Note that the boys wear mostly light-colored smocks, often patterned ginham smocks. Unfortunately we can not tell much about the colors. The dark-colored smocks that were widely worn through the 1930s are no longer commonly worn. The boys all seem to be wearing short pants. Most of the boys look to be French, but there are several Algerian boys as well.

French School Grades

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.

Internet Site

We note an internet site with some images of the school. Other than the images, however, there is no informatiion.