Universities in Algeria teach science in French, but schools teach in Arabic.
Students face a language barrier when they enter university so many of them fail the first year.
The idea of introducing French in secondary schools, namely for Math, Physics and science, is to make a smooth transition to university courses.
It will help students who use at home Arabic or Berber to switch to French when they reach higher education.
The opponents of this idea said that the universities should switch to Arabic rather than to French.
There were also suggestions, that English would be better as an international language of science.
Even more than 50 years after independence, universities in Algeria still teach courses in French, although Arabic is the official language.
Source http://www.bbc.com/news/education-36906818