Hamid is a father of two children at the Habib Bourguiba primary school in Hammamet, 60 kilometers away from the capital Tunis. With outrage he deplored the charged atmosphere that marked the start of the new school year and he complained about the numerous problems especially the unfinished reconstruction in the school, which has delayed the start of the school year. He was also angry because many of the school’s facilities are unfit for teaching.
Hamid is a father of two children at the Habib Bourguiba primary school in Hammamet, 60 kilometers away from the capital Tunis. With outrage he deplored the charged atmosphere that marked the start of the new school year and he complained about the numerous problems especially the unfinished reconstruction in the school, which has delayed the start of the school year. He was also angry because many of the school’s facilities are unfit for teaching.
Hamid was wiped away the sweat on his forehead after waiting for a long time in front of the school. ”Any person from outside the city would never understand how a primary school in the heart of the city starts its school year with construction equipment scattered all over the place,” Hamid said. “Parents are no longer capable of standing in front of the school because of the on-going construction.”
In each section 50 students instead of 25 were grouped together. The section’s capacities were not taken into consideration and the parents were very upset. ”Teachers will not be able to handle these large numbers of students,” Hamid explained. ”It will create an atmosphere of chaos and will not allow students to concentrate. Moreover, the seats are not comfortable and sometimes, three or four students have to share one seat. This is how the educational process happens in underdeveloped countries.”
The Habib Bourguiba School is not the only one that suffers from such problems. Al-Tahreer school, although spacious and aesthetically pleasing to look at, with a capacity of 1200 students, has a shortage of teachers. Moreover, the headmaster of the school has been absent for two weeks of the school year and has prompted pupils and their parents to organize a protest.
Helmi is 43 years old and has a child at the Tahreer School. He and 41 other parents have initiated the protest. ”Our problem is not a new one. Last year, one of the teachers was absent for two months without a substitute. Such a problem does not affect the school or its administration, it only impacts the students and their educational level. Moreover, it has an impact on the parents who have to worry about the future of their children.”
“My son is in the third grade and until today, he does not know who will be teaching the French lessons. The same problem happened when he was in the first and second grade and I think it will happen again in the fourth and sixth grades,” said Helmi. The problem is not only the mismanagement of the school but also in the way the headmaster, who absented himself for one week, deals with parents. Not only does he treat us badly but he also refuses to meet with us and explain to us the reason for the absence of teachers.”
The absence of control by the Education Ministry
The problems associated with the start of the new school year are not confined to Hammamet but have reached all educational institutions in the Nabeul province. Everyone felt that the start of this school year was not up to the aspired level, according to Mustafa Agrebi, the Secretary General of the Regional Union of Basic Education who blamed the Education Ministry for its failure and for the absence of control measures.
He believed that the ministry did not prepare itself as it should have evident in the shortage of teachers and academic staff, including supervisors. He also complained about a lack of equipment. ”In some of the schools, there are desks that date back to the colonial period. Until today, these desks are still used by the students and teachers although they are not suitable for seating and for writing,” he said.
Agrebi added that a meeting was supposed to be held before September 14, to discuss all issues related to the new school year and to assess the last year’s programs and the numbers of students and teachers. However, this meeting was postponed and, until now, hasn’t been held because of the shortage in the numbers of organizers responsible for organizing the meeting.
Agrebi also criticized the regional education commissary of being careless and said there were a number of displaced teachers who had received neither the name of the school where they were supposed to teach nor the start date. They don’t even know the classes they will be supervising, he said. ”One month has already passed and classes in some schools haven’t yet started. Students are going everyday to their schools with their parents but until now, some schools still have not opened because there are no teachers and no clear schedule. This explains why there are a number of protests and anger among parents and sometimes they resort to verbal and even physical violence to express it.”
Security problems
In addition to administrative problems and a shortage of teachers, furniture and equipment, there is a marked absence of security, which has caused parents to be concerned, as there are strangers standing in front of the schools and institutions, who have been known to rob and even assault pupils.
Leila brings her children to school every day. Only two weeks have passed since that start of the school year but she said she already feels so exhausted. ”I go to school every day with my son who is now in his first school year. I am always afraid of assaults by unidentified men. The school has more than one gate and there is only one guard. There is no fence to stop strangers from coming into the school.”
Mustafa Agrebi blamed the concerned authority and said that it has neglected its duties by assigning only one guard and one person for cleaning, despite the school’s large size and high number of students. He informed the authorities about this problem, he said. ” But it did not make any move.”
