The rape of a three-year-old girl at a nursery—by the nursery’s caretaker— last month set off waves of protests against authorities and raised the question about how safe daycare centers are in Tunisia, where official protective measures have waned since the revolution two years ago.

The rape of a three-year-old girl at a nursery—by the nursery’s caretaker— last month set off waves of protests against authorities and raised the question about how safe daycare centers are in Tunisia, where official protective measures have waned since the revolution two years ago.

Hundreds of angry demonstrators gathered in front of the Ministry of Women and Family Affairs in Tunis on March 25, demanding the resignation of Minister of Women’s Affairs, Sihem Badi, a close ally of President Moncef Marzouki and a leading figure in the Congress for the Republic Party (a partner of  the Ennahda Movement in the Troika).

Defending the indefensible

In a press statement following the incident, Family Minster Badi said, “The nursery principal who is also its owner is very qualified and possesses enough experience to run a child care center given that her mother previously had also owned a nursery.” She added that she “acquits the nursery of the rape incident and the incident took place outside the nursery and inside the child’s expanded family circle.”

However, policemen investigating the crime found that the nursery was operating without a legal license. Investigations also revealed that many other girls had been raped on the premises.

Badi later took back her defense of the kindergarten.

Badi then visited the victim’s house and apologized to the girl’s parents. She also pledged to provide medical and psychological care for the girl and her family. This, however, did not stop public criticism against the minister’s performance or the calls demanding her resignation for her lack of efficiency, involvement in political affairs and incitement against government opponents whom she accused of infidelity, instead of paying attention to her duties at the ministry.

Are makeshift nurseries safe?

The girl’s rape incident has given rise to fresh debates about the best means to protect children and defame rapists under a conservative society that tends to conceal similar incidents of a moral nature. Recently, other rape cases have been disclosed where victims suffered physical and psychological assault on one hand and an inferior social and domestic banishment on the other. As for the raped child, many daycares in the family’s neighborhood have refused to take her in.

This incident also raised the issue of illegal nurseries operating in defiance of the state that is unable to take any action against them, despite the strong and deterrent relevant legal regulations. Citizens often use their garages or any other unregulated spaces for a so-called child daycare center.

It should be indicated that this type of business is no longer subject to prior authorization by competent authorities. All they need is to comply with certain requirements which in most cases are not checked out to ensure proper compliance. This dangerous business has thrived due to irresponsible demand by many families which are attracted to it by virtue of its relatively low prices and proximity to their residences.

There is, on the other hand, another striking phenomenon manifested in the growing spread of the so-called Koranic kindergartens, which mostly operate outside the legal frameworks and away from state supervision and control.

Some of these religiously-oriented centers which emerged after January 14, 2011 have even established their own educational networks disregarding the enforced legal control. Head of Tunisia’s Kindergarten Chamber Nabiha Tlili stressed the need to bring this issue to light and give it proper attention, and the importance of identifying the financing sources and goals of these institutions considering that they sought to promote a pattern of behavior alien to Tunisians’ culture and customs, especially by their persistent tendency to exclusively place these children in the care of veiled women who lacked relevant qualifications.