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Schoolchildren in uniform, schoolbags on their backs, hurry to reach the primary school of Bhar Lazreg, a popular district in the northern suburbs of Tunis. A few minutes later, many have already emerged. “The mistress is not here”, announces a pupil of third grade to his mother, who gets angry: “I can’t take it anymore, it’s the same thing every day! » Imen Ayachi, 40, has two school children: “I’m doing everything so that they have a future here, but that’s no longer possible. What are we supposed to do in the face of such a blockage? »
The same scene is repeated daily in front of some primary schools in Tunisia, while nearly 4,000 substitute teachers have been on strike since the start of the school year. They were even nearly 8,000 at the start, or almost 10% of the teaching staff in primary education. Between 60,000 and 150,000 students have not been able to resume classes normally since the beginning of the movement, according to the Ministry of Education – more than 500,000 according to the teachers’ unions.
These substitute teachers are demanding the application of an agreement signed in 2018 with the former government, which promises the tenure of contract workers after several years of work. Nearly 80% of them were hired between 2019 and 2022, but “the economic situation of the country does not allow it” for the promotion of 2023, argued the Minister of Education, Fethi Sellaouti, causing an uproar within the profession. The civil service wage bill already represents nearly 15% of GDP and the government does not wish to inflate it further at a time when Tunisia is going through a serious economic and financial crisis.
Ultimatum
But for Ridha Zahrouni, president of the Tunisian Association of Parents and Students, this crisis is above all the result of “bad policies applied in the education sector since the revolution”. Problem of remuneration, lack of development of school programs, faulty management of violence and harassment, deterioration of public school infrastructure… In recent years, Tunisian schools have already been shaken by numerous strike movements. “When we see the school dropout rate and the fact that we continue to call on substitutes due to budgetary constraints, there are a lot of reforms to be made urgently”, says Ridha Zahrouni.
Nearly 109,000 students dropped out of school in 2022, education minister says
Nearly one million students, particularly at the end of middle school and in high school, dropped out of school between 2010 and 2020, according to the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES). Added to this are nearly 109,000 students in 2022 alone, according to a statement by Fethi Sellaouti in September. Faced with the impasse, President Kaïs Saïed summoned the Minister of Education at the end of October and the head of government, Najla Bouden, to urge them to “find a solution urgently”. “He should play more of an arbitration role to prevent the situation from becoming unmanageable,” judge for his part Ridha Zahrouni.
An ultimatum was issued by the authorities on Tuesday, November 8: teachers are ordered to accept the arrangements submitted to the unions and return to their posts, failing which they will lose all room for negotiation. The ministry had initially offered provisional contracts and a promise of renegotiation on recruitment within four years, but eventually reduced the period to three years, with “new contracts that give benefits and salaries virtually identical to those of a tenured teacher [dans les 1 300 dinars par mois, soit 400 euros] », says Nsiri Bouzid, director of planning and studies at the ministry.
“We really want to find a solution and we have offered several packages to the unions,” he insists, saying he is confident about the possibility of an early outcome since “some teachers have gone to get these new contracts from the regional police stations and will sign them by Monday”.
Escalation
But Thursday, several hundred teachers gathered in front of the Ministry of Education to express their dissatisfaction and defend their rights.
Mouna Dridi, 39, a teacher in Sidi Hassine, in the suburbs of Tunis, does not want to give in, even though her school had to close since she and her colleagues went on strike. “Our place is in the classrooms, not in the streets, but we cannot continue like this after five to six years without recruitment”, she said in the middle of the crowd of teachers. Sabeh Ghattasi, 38, has worked as a substitute since 2013, for a salary of around 600 dinars per month. His school in Fouchana, another popular district, is also closed. “It is not a problem of money but of principle. We have the right, legally, to demand a more stable contract,” she explains.
The main trade union center in the country, the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT), seems to want to lower the pressure. The “teacher crisis will be resolved in the hours to come”, assured Thursday its secretary general, Noureddine Taboubi. But within other unions, the tone is rising and some teachers have promised an escalation in the coming days, with sit-ins in the establishments.
Parents fear collateral damage to their children’s education. “That’s why we come to the school every day. Sometimes the teachers of other subjects are there and we can leave our children at least for an hour or two,” testifies Naziha Mejri, mother of two schoolgirls, disillusioned: “I work as a housekeeper, it’s impossible for me to put them in the private sector. » The cost of enrolling in a private school can vary between 1,200 and 6,000 dinars per year, while the minimum wage does not exceed 460 dinars.
That morning, Naziha Mejri leaves with her two daughters. She has to take them to daycare so she can go to work. The ministry assured that “exceptional catch-up sessions” would be ensured, according to Nsiri Bouzid, “to help these students pass their December exams”.