Several schools in Algeria have witnessed an unusual phenomenon recently, as some classrooms have effectively turned into “live streaming studios” after students began recording themselves during lessons to post on TikTok.
Videos filmed inside middle and high schools spread rapidly across social media, sparking outrage among teachers and parents alike. Many described the trend as “a serious decline in the dignity of the educational institution” and “an unprecedented behavioral deviation” among teenagers aged between 11 and 18.
One Facebook user commented: “We’ve often heard about students filming short videos or taking selfies in class, but turning lessons into live shows and mockery on air? That’s a declaration of the collapse of our education system.” Another user urged schools to “confiscate students’ phones at the entrance and hold parents accountable for monitoring their children.”
According to Eltra Algeria, teacher and union official Mohamed Belaamri, secretary general of the Algerian Union of Education Workers, said that Algerian schools are increasingly witnessing “intrusive behaviors” such as violence and live streaming on social platforms, despite the fact that school regulations strictly forbid mobile phones on campus.