August 31, 2008 -- A new Algerian government report finds fewer male students in high schools and universities compared to female students. Sociology professors attribute the change to male students' tendency to start work rather than continue their education, and to females' desire to attain a higher social standing through academic achievement.

According to the July study from the National Social and Economic Council (CNES), the higher the class level, the lower the number of male students. While male students outnumber female students in elementary and middle schools, the gender disparity reverses by high school, where there are an estimated 596,347 female students compared to 439,516 males. In university, females total 528,105, versus 410,662 males.

The report indicates a new reality in Algerian schools: females appear to be more interested in learning and have become outstanding achievers. They represent 61% of graduates of higher education.

Moreover, women are strongly represented in the intellectual elite in Algeria, CNES determined. Women comprise 37% of the justice sector, 50% of educators, 53% of health professionals and 32% of senior positions in the state.

The baccalaureate exams conducted last June reflect the new educational dynamic in Algeria. Females made up 67.36% of successful candidates, whereas the number of males who passed the bac was just 32.46%. A female student from Jijel also got the highest score in the mathematics division, a total of 18.34 out of 20.

Female students are marking high attendance and success rates in high school and university, while male students are leaving school to work, experts note.

The best evidence of the difference in academic motivation, says CNES chief Mohamed Seghir Babes, is the comparable success rates for females and males in the bac exams. Babes called on public authorities to promptly look for causes of the phenomenon and a solution for it.

Male students leave school to get a job. For girls, however, success in education represents full liberation from their families' control, Bejaia University sociology professor Bekakria Djoudi told Magharebia.

"Their academic brilliance helps them launch a career and hence depend on themselves, instead of being dependent on their families for support," he said.

He adds that women see education as a gateway to attaining status and assuming higher positions, thus liberating themselves from "stereotypical vocations such as sewing and cleaning".