This publication has benefited from the support of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation. This text may be reproduced in part or in full, provided the source is acknowledged.
“When we used to arrive at school in the early hours of cold mornings, the school’s administration would distribute warm milk and bread. Most of us came from poor families, and breakfast was not a daily ritual in our homes. Despite our circumstances, my illiterate mother ensured that each of her children had a new pair of shoes and a decent uniform at the beginning of every school year… The school’s administration also provided different types of aid to the disadvantaged children. In addition to the regular school hours, the school allocated free tutorial hours every day. My teachers were Tunisians, Muslims, Jews, as well as French and Belgians. I studied almost everything in French, except for language classes, Arabic literature and Islamic education. Most of our fathers were craftsmen and small farmers, which is why we were always hesitant to ask for money to buy a notebook or inkwell. Had it not been for the independence and free education, we would not have had a different life from theirs. There was only one high school in the city, and no university to enroll in after my graduation. So, we had to go to the city. I preferred to embark on my professional career, as did many of my generation. We wanted to make up for what we had been deprived of and to support our families”.
This is only a fragment of what my father remembers about his journey in education. He enrolled in elementary school in 1958 and I graduated from university in 2008. But I found the “social elevator” that my father and his generation rode somewhat run-down. It became very slow, barely able to carry a few people and rarely getting them to the top floors. My situation was better than that of my youngest sister who graduated in 2018 to find that “elevator” completely out of service. That was after employment in the public sector was frozen by the Tunisian state implementing the ‘‘magic’’ recipes of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In that same year, I was searching for a kindergarten for my daughter that would provide proper child care and development, without requiring that we take a bank loan- although, notably, my mother had been to a free public kindergarten in the sixties.
This is just a glimpse into the journey of a middle-class Tunisian family in the public education system, once upheld by Tunisian leaders as the pride of the nation, but its current state is far from pleasing. In the following, we shall demonstrate some information and numbers that may help understand the circumstances of the Tunisian school’s emergence, development and decline.
Pre-university education: enormous efforts and ideological confusion
Tunisia gained its independence in 1956, with education constituting the top priority of the new leaders. The baseline of the education system was not at zero, but it was not far from it either: The illiteracy rate among Tunisians was approximately 85%, the number of high schools in the entire country could be counted on two hands, and the number of teachers in all educational levels did not exceed two thousand. There was a need to face the chaos of independent educational systems, ranging from French schools to Franco-Arab education, Quran Schools, modern education in Al-Sadiqiyyah High School, Zeitouni Islamic education, and Jewish schools, etc.
The young state decided to formulate a comprehensive reform project with the aim to “Tunisize” education, disengage it from the French education system, unify it, and make it public. In the beginning of 1958, two reform projects were sent to the office of President Bourguiba. The first one was submitted by the team of the then Minister of Education, Mohamed Lamine Chebbi, and the second by Mahmoud Messadi, one of Tunisia’s most renowned intellectuals and literary figures. Although the two projects shared the quest to build a modern and integrated educational system, there were fundamental differences between the two presented visions. The team of Minister Chebbi preferred a gradual popularization of education due to limited financial and human capacities and to ensure quality. The team was keen to elevate the status of the Arabic language at the expense of the French language, in a context that would attach special weight to the Arab-Islamic identity. On the other hand, Messadi’s project called for the rapid and comprehensive popularization of education, not abandoning the French language, and adopting it as the primary learning language from first grade onward, while preparing Arabic language to take its place later on.
Bourguiba opted for the second project and appointed Messadi Minister of Education in May 1958, succeeding Chebbi in office. That same year, Messadi eliminated religious education, endowments, and Sharia judiciary, a measure that aligned with his ideological and societal project. Bourguiba, known for admiring Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his policies, and influenced by Jacobinism and the ideas of the French Third Republic, saw the educational system as his own republican army, which could carry his “modernist” ideas and bring the Tunisian society “out of darkness and into light”. To this day, the weight of such ideological and political agendas continues to overshadow all Tunisian educational reforms.
The high rate of school enrolment should not obscure certain facts about several forms of disparity between governorates, and even within the same governorate (depending on whether an area is urban/ rural). The governorates’ ranking according to the success rates in the baccalaureate exam clearly reflects the educational disparity in Tunisia.
One of the main dimensions of the education crisis in Tunisia is the decline in public spending on educational institutions. This, of course, is reflected in the wages of various members of the educational staff, the forms of their employment, the quality of their training, the condition of infrastructures and equipment, educational tools, and maintenance expenses.
In the late 1980s, education in Tunisia began to experience exhaustion, as school failure and dropout rates increased, while school programs proved incompatible with global developments. Tunisia also survived an economic and political crisis which ended with General Ben Ali’s coup d’état against President Bourguiba in 1987. From 1990 onwards, Ben Ali engaged in a violent conflict with Islamists, and the education system was weaponized in the confrontation. In 1991, a new “educational reform”, led by Minister Mohamed Charfi, was adopted, by which professional training was foregone, turning the educational system into an autonomous body affiliated with the Ministry of Employment. Additionally, compulsory education was imposed until the age of 12. The Arabization of scientific subjects throughout elementary education was established, as well as the gradual introduction of the English language, but with the “reintroduction” of the French language in the first years of school. Civil education was also separated from Islamic education.
However, “Charfi’s reform” was short-lived. In 2002, the Ministry of Education adopted a new educational reform strategy through the "Directive on Education and Schooling”, and considered it the base on which the “school of tomorrow” would be built. The most prominent feature of this reform was the extension of compulsory education to the age of 16. Since then, the country has not witnessed a large-scale educational reform.
Quantitative data
Schooling rates today reach 99.1% among children aged 6-11 and 95.4% among those aged 12-16. In the academic year 2022-2023, 6,129 public educational institutions received about 2.2 million students, taught by more than 151 thousand teachers. Free, compulsory education and the state’s keenness on educating girls brought the number of students from both sexes closer, with some educational levels including more female than male students. In elementary school, there are 92 female students for every 100 male students, and starting from the second level of middle school, the rate becomes 117 girls for every 100 boys. 69% of those girls pass the ninth grade and get enrolled in high school, while this rate does not exceed 50% among boys, whereas 61% of girls graduate from high school in comparison to 45% of boys. At a professional level, women outnumber men in all educational levels: there are 130 female teachers for every 100 male teachers in the elementary level, and 110 female teachers for every 100 male teachers in the middle and high school level.
Disparities between rural and urban regions
However, these high percentages should not obscure certain facts about several forms of disparity between governorates, and even within the same governorate (according to urban/rural areas). The governorates’ ranking according to the success rates in the baccalaureate exam clearly reflects the educational disparity in Tunisia. For more than 50 years, the central-eastern state of Sfax has consistently held the first place, while the subsequent five places include at least two coastal governorates (Sousse, Monastir, Mahdia in the central-eastern region), and at least one governorate in Grand Tunis area (Manouba, Ariana, Ben Arous in the north-eastern region). In the middle tier, governorates from the north and center-east (Nabeul, Bizerte, Zaghouan, Gabes, Medenine) are dominant. As for the lowest ranks, they are “exclusive” to the western inland governorates from north to south.
An examination of annual baccalaureate session results since the 1970s reveals an almost consistent ranking pattern, especially in the upper ranks. Proximity to the coast, it seems, makes it more likely that a student achieves academic success. The biggest dilemma for Tunisia - and for a significant part of the countries in the Global South - is the unequal distribution of wealth, resources, services and infrastructure, and this applies to education.
Even in the “luckiest” governorates, clear disparities remain visible. The numbers published by the National Institute of Statistics (INS) in 2018 make it clear that as we move to higher levels of education, the disparity between urban and rural environments becomes clearer: 97.2% of students in urban areas finish elementary school in comparison to 90% in rural areas, and in middle school, the percentages are 81.7% and 59.2% in urban and rural areas respectively, while in high school, the percentages are 57% and 29.6% respectively. These numbers underscore significant strides in the universalization of education. However, qualitatively, there have been periods of progress, stagnation, and, currently, a multifaceted stage of decline.
Decline in public spending on education
One of the main dimensions of the education crisis in Tunisia is financial, meaning the decline in public spending on educational institutions. This, of course, is reflected in the wages of the various members of the educational staff, the forms of their employment, the quality of their training, the condition of the infrastructure and equipment, the educational tools, and the expenses of their maintenance and renewal. The scarcity of public spending has fueled tensions among various stakeholders in the educational process. Over the past decade, every school year has witnessed strikes and protest movements by teachers' unions. Some of these protests have persisted for months.
The specter of unemployment among university graduates looms over students throughout their academic journey, prompting a kind of frantic race to create a “super” student from the age of five, who is prepared to eventually secure a place in one of the “prestigious”, highly-employable majors.
In the last decade, parents (namely of middle-class families) became exceedingly obsessed with their children’s educational excellence. They spend huge amounts of money, and, if necessary, they borrow money or sell their private property, to enroll their children in private educational institutions, be they Tunisian or foreign. During the school year 2012-2013, the number of private elementary institutions was 155 with 33,732 students, while the number of private middle schools and colleges was 299 with 63,784 students. As for the school year 2022-2023, the number of private elementary schools reached 669 schools that provide services for 121,579 students, and 511 preparatory and high school institutions where 102,574 students are taught. The obsession does not stop at private education; there are also foreign centers for language teaching, private lessons, and “intelligence and skills development” courses. In the middle of this “survival of the fittest” struggle, the Tunisian public school quickly loses its role in ensuring a minimum level of equal opportunity and reducing class and regional differences.
Higher education, narrower horizons
Until the beginning of the 1960s, most of the students who graduated high school had found themselves facing limited options; either to settle and enter the work market or continue their education in universities abroad, primarily in France, or, to a lesser extent, in countries of the Arab Levant. Throughout the French occupation of Tunisia, only one university institution, The Institute of Higher Education in Tunisia, was founded in 1945 and was associated with the Paris Academy. Most of its students were not Tunisian, but rather French. The institution remained after the end of the French occupation. It was not fully “Tunisized” until after the educational reform in 1958, and the establishment of University of Tunisia in 1960.
Up until 1973, all university institutions were concentrated in Tunis. After that, there was a shift toward establishing universities in different cities, primarily in Sfax, Sousse, and Monastir. But the process of decentralization remained slow, and instead of expanding and diversifying the geographical distribution of universities, they remained concentrated in coastal governorates. This disproportion has persisted, with visible implications, to this day.
The Tunisian state approved free higher education, implementing a number of procedures and setting up institutions following the emergence of the Tunisian University: university cities providing student housing at a low cost, monthly financial grants for students, university cantines providing food at a nominal fee, etc. Despite all these incentives, the Tunisian University remained relatively elitist until the late 1980s.
The specter of unemployment among university graduates looms over students throughout their academic journey, prompting a kind of frantic race to create a “super” student from the age of five, who is prepared to eventually secure a place in one of the “prestigious”, highly-employable majors.
When the country gained its independence, the number of people qualified to teach in universities did not exceed 30 out of the approximately 3.5 million Tunisians in the country. In the initial stage, the state relied heavily on foreign collaborators to teach at the Tunisian University. For example, there were 314 foreign collaborators in 1971, including 290 from France. Gradually, the scale began to tip in favor of Tunisian teachers, until their number exceeded 1,000 in the early 1980s. This period also witnessed a clear surge in the number of enrolled Tunisian students, from 800 in 1956 to over 30 thousand in the early 1980s.
The Tunisian state approved free higher education, implementing a number of procedures and setting up institutions from early on, following the emergence of the Tunisian University: university cities providing student housing at a very low cost, monthly financial grants for students, university cantines providing food at a nominal fee, etc. Despite all these incentives, the Tunisian University remained relatively elitist until the late 1980s. In 1956, for example, the percentage of Tunisians enrolled in universities was estimated 0.06% of the total population, rising to 0.13% in 1966 (2.5% of 19-24 year-olds), and not exceeding 0.55% in 1984 (5% of 19-24 year-olds). From the mid-nineties on, this percentage started to increase significantly, reaching 1.49% in 1997 (14% of 19-24 year-olds), then leaping to 3.45% in 2009 (45% of 19-24 year-olds). Percentages have been gradually dropping since, hitting 2.34% in 2016 (which is one of the effects of the unemployment crisis of university graduates). Meanwhile, the student failure rate has been very high.
“Carthage”expels its children into the sea
05-04-2020
Since the mid-1990s, the state has started to adopt a policy of “democratization” with regards to access to higher education, by reducing the requirements for passing the baccalaureate certificate, university admission, and inter-university transfers, as well as by increasing universities’ capacity by building dozens of new university institutions and seeking to include inland governorates onto the university landscape. While this rapid “democratization” yielded positive results, it was not without its share of negative repercussions: overcrowding in universities, poor levels of professional formation of graduates, and creating institutions, university courses, and degrees which lacked genuine educational and/or operational value, etc.
Throughout the French occupation of Tunisia, only one university institution, the Institute of Higher Education in Tunisia, was founded in 1945. It was associated with the Paris Academy. Most of its students were not Tunisian, but French. The institution remained after the end of the French occupation. It was not fully “Tunisized” until after the educational reform in 1958, and the establishment of University of Tunisia in 1960.
Up until 1973, all university institutions were concentrated in Tunis. After that, there was a shift toward establishing universities in different cities, yet the process of decentralization remained slow. 10 of the 24 governorates host fewer than 5 university institutions, while the capital, Tunis, is the only governorate with more than 30 institutions.
The greatest incentive, which is the presence of job opportunities with decent pay and conditions, relapsed dramatically. Since the late 1990s, the “unemployment of higher education graduates” has turned into a phenomenon in Tunisia. The Tunisian labor market, limited in terms of size and sectors, was not prepared to receive tens of thousands of university graduates every year. In January 2023, the national unemployment rate reached 15.6%, according to figures by the National Institute of Statistics, and it reached 24% for those with university degrees. But even when the state adopted a comprehensive “reform” for higher education at the beginning of the 2000s, the amendments were nominal and almost limited to adjusting the number of years of education, the evaluation system, and the titles of certificates.
Women
Tunisian women have greatly benefited from the democratization of higher education, and they were able to compete with men and, sometimes, to surpass them. At the end of the university year of 2019/2020, the total number of graduates was 51,988 students, 36,284 of which were female students. As of the 2022/2023 academic year, the number of students reached 305,635 students, of which 193,168 were female students. However, the numerical superiority of female students in university does not necessarily translate into an advantage in the labor market. Males still dominate certain university departments that prepare for most job opportunities. It is noteworthy that the unemployment rate of women with university degrees exceeds 30%.
In the field of education, Tunisian women are making tremendous strides; there are 11,000 female teachers compared to 11,700 male teachers in the country. But once again, things must be seen in context, as men still largely dominate professional positions higher up in hierarchy: for every 100 male “university professors” (a rank, not a title), there are 18 women in the same position, and for every 100 male “university lecturers”, there are 36 female university lecturers. The ratios reverse in the lower ranks, with about 150 female “assistant professors” for every 100 males in the same rank.
Disparities
60 years after laying the foundations of higher education in Tunisia, the country has yielded good results on a quantitative level. However, the outcomes remain unstable on the qualitative level, and the existing, pervasive disparities have given rise to various aspects of entrenched inequality.
There are more than 203 public higher education institutions in Tunisia. The Ministry of Higher Education practices full supervision of more than 170 institutions and joint supervision of the rest of the institutes, in partnership with other ministries. 153 university institutions, constituting more than 75% of the total institutions, are located in the “well-off” governorates overlooking the sea in the eastern side of the country. The region of Grand Tunis alone (2.9 million people out of 12 million Tunisians, distributed in the capital and the governorates of Ariana, Manouba and Ben Arous) has 62 public university institutions, or approximately one-third of all public institutions, 36 of which are located in the governorate of Tunisia alone.
Out of 305 thousand students enrolled in the university year of 2022-2023, according to the statistical bulletin of the ministry of higher education, we find that 171 thousand student, which are 56% of all students in Tunisia, study in 8 governorates (out of 24): The four governorates of the Grand Tunis area, and the governorates of Nabeul, Sousse, Monastir, and Sfax, inhabited by approximately 6 million people, which amounts to 50% of the country’s inhabitants. This equation appears logical, “equitable”, and even very positive compared to the equatikaon that existed in 1973, when 100% of Tunisian students studied in one governorate which is the capital, Tunis. Things, however, are not that simple, as this demographic “balance” hides behind extremely telling quantitative and qualitative imbalances.
Today, schooling rates reach 99.1% among children aged 6-11 and 95.4% among those aged 12-16. In the academic year 2022-2023, 6,129 public educational institutions received about 2.2 million students, taught by more than 151 thousand teachers. Free, compulsory education and the state’s keenness on educating girls brought the number of students from both sexes closer, with some educational levels including more female than male students.
Tunisian women have greatly benefited from the democratization of higher education, and they were able to compete with men and, sometimes, to surpass them. At the end of the university year of 2019/2020, the total number of graduates was 51,988 students, 36,284 of which were female students. However, things must be seen in context, as men still largely dominate professional positions higher up in hierarchy.
There are 10 governorates which host fewer than 5 university institutions, 7 governorates host 5 to 10 institutions, and 5 governorates host between 11 and 20 institutions. Sfax is the only governorate with more than 20, while the capital, Tunis, is the only governorate with more than 30 institutions. In comparison, Tunisia has 17 preparatory institutes for engineering studies, 16 of which are located in coastal governorates, while only one is in an inland governorate (Gafsa), and approximately 30 engineering training institutions, three-quarters of which are located in coastal governorates. There are only 4 medicine departments distributed among 4 governorates. Tunisia has only one pharmacy department and one dentistry department, both located in the coastal governorate of Monastir.
The same applies to the training institutions in law, architecture, polytechnic, journalism, and cinema: only one institution of each in the capital, Tunis. There are 7 law departments, 5 of which are located in coastal governorates. The same goes for political sciences (4 training institutions: 2 in the capital, one in Sousse, and one in Kairouan). In short, the divisions with the greatest job opportunities, which are also considered the reservoir of elites, are concentrated in three or four coastal governorates. All of this means that the decentralization of higher education has remained superficial, as the four biggest coastal governorates almost completely monopolized the “prestigious” universities and study majors that are in demand for the market, while dozens of institutions with very limited capacity, short educational paths and “undervalued” specializations were concentrated in inland poor governorates where agriculture, extractive activities and smuggling are the dominant economic activities.
*****
Chapter 8 of the constitution, adopted on July 25, 2022, stipulated the creation of the Supreme Council for Education in Tunisia, which is expected to commence its operations in the near future. The Ministry of Education launched, on September 15, 2023, “the national consultation on education reform”, which is an online consultation open to all Tunisians. Despite all the complaints about the content of this “comprehensive” consultation, the superficiality of some of it, its comparison of the specialists in the educational fields with the rest of the citizens, and its exploitation by the ruling authority to avoid real dialogue with education unions and civil society, it may represent a crucial first step on the path to reform.
The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of Assafir Al-Arabi and Rosa Luxemburg Foundation cannot accept any liability for it.
Translated from Arabic by Maher El-Khechen
Published in Assafir Al-Arabi on 26/11/2023
