After fifty years of independence, the official recognition of classical Arabic, the use of spoken Algerian Arabic (Darja), the recognition of Tamazight as the second official language and the forced use of French, the colonial language, as a foreign language, continue to cause linguistic and identity-based unease for the majority of Algerians. The recognition, in 1993, of English as the first foreign language has only increased the debate around the political legitimacy of the French language. This article presents and analyses the changes in Algerian educational policy as regards languages, from ‘purification’ and ‘openness’ in schools, to the place and management of linguistic diversity in education, in addition to its impact on the quality of learning in Algeria.