The classroom inside Essouani School in Houmt Souk, on the Tunisian island of Djerba, is quiet; one only hears the occasional whisper coming from the students – students with names like Mohammed, Sadiq, Sion and Shirley, all sitting side by side. In a few minutes though, it will be lunchtime and the students will be sharing their lunches and turning this quiet area into their playground.
The classroom inside Essouani School in Houmt Souk, on the Tunisian island of Djerba, is quiet; one only hears the occasional whisper coming from the students – students with names like Mohammed, Sadiq, Sion and Shirley, all sitting side by side. In a few minutes though, it will be lunchtime and the students will be sharing their lunches and turning this quiet area into their playground.
But two children in the class – Sion and Mohammed – will not be doing this. They have to spend part of their lunch break in the classroom attending a special tutorial in dialogue and dispute resolution. And if the two children are not able to resolve their problems amicably on their own then the school’s principal, Farida Rabjani, will intervene. The children will have to go to her office and in doing so, they’ll lose their entire lunch break
Rabjani says the children at her school have the same kinds of fights that children in other Tunisian schools do. But what is different is that Essouani School is attended by both Muslim and Jewish children – and it is one of the only, if not the only, school in Tunisia where this happens. In order not to get parents involved in playground disputes, Rajbani has instituted a special programme for conflict resolution.
Essouani School was built in 1974 and currently it has over 450 students, 25 teachers and nine classrooms.
Principal Rajbani believes the most important thing is getting the children started early on dialogue, teaching them tolerance and getting them used to the vagaries of co-existence in the classroom and society in general. “It’s important for children to realize that being different in terms of religion and culture is normal and that it isn’t an obstacle to coexistence and companionship,” Rajbani says, adding that, “diversity is healthy.”
In the classroom today it doesn’t take long for Mohammed and Sion to apologise to one another. their desire to get outside and play and eat lunches is bigger than any problem they’ve just had with each other. And after only a few minutes they emerge from the classroom holding hands, friends again.
“We’re on good terms, we’re going to share our lunches actually,” Sion explains. “And we’re going to cooperate on a science project,” Mohammed adds.
Both Muslim and Jewish students take the same classes all week long. Only on Saturdays, the Jewish holy day, do they separate. Jewish students go to special Hebrew classes while the Muslim children take other classes. And when the Muslim youngsters take religious instruction, their Jewish friends get to take a break. Other than that though, all religious holidays – no matter whether Jewish or Muslim – are a vacation for all of the kids.
As one of Essouani School’s arts teachers puts it: “after all, all of these kids are Tunisians no matter which religion they might have.”
Some times the parents of children are informed about issues from the school yard. And as one of the parents, who has two children going to Essouani School, points out: “we adults are also learning from our children, with the way this conflict resolution process is working. The children are so good at communicating and at being tolerant. The kids focus on what unites them, rather than what divides them.” In fact, the parents say, they’ve actually made new friends because of their children.
As an island Djerba has always been known for its religious tolerance and the experience of the families at Essouani School adds to that reputation. The tolerance and conflict resolution that the children are capable of here – far beyond their years – is something that the rest of Tunisia could surely learn from right now.
