ABSTRACT
The transition remains uninviting, and presents a major restraint upon the desired development of the education system and the economy. Despite the structural changes effected in the last decade, the passage from primary school to secondary school is hardly yet a simple step from one rung to another. The inflexibility of teachers' habits is matched by the syllabuses that seem to have been designed for the fast learners. Basic concepts such as the relationship of subject and complement in a sentence, or the addition and subtraction of fractions in arithmetic, were shown by investigators to have been very inadequately understood. The necessary reform in the primary school, which would permit the liberation of progressive secondary teachers, was announced late in 1969 following the report of a ministerial commission on the renewal of primary education. The concept of the 'middle school' has gained increasing acceptance since it was first debated and rejected in 1957.
