Nearly 4,000 Tunisian substitute teachers have been on strike since the start of the school year and are demanding their recruitment and the payment of their salaries over the last six months. For the ministry, recruitment is not possible before the next three years, for lack of budget. In front of the primary schools, the anger of the parents of pupils is palpable.
With our correspondent in Tunis, Lilia Blaise
In Bhar Lazreg, in the northern suburbs of Tunis, like every morning, parents stay with schoolchildren in front of the school door. They don’t know if their children will be able to attend classes today. Sonia, 31, is waiting with her son: “ Since my son started school, the Arabic teacher has never come. She just came the first day to give them the list of school supplies and then we didn’t see her again. And there, we are coming soon to the exam period, and my son has not had a single class. »
Like others, she will have to take her child to daycare so as not to leave him alone at home while she works. This scenario currently affects several thousand students because of the substitute teachers’ strike.
” It’s normal that they are fed up »
Belgacem, a civil servant and father of a daughter, cannot afford to put her in a private school: “ Imagine, I was asked 1 200 dinars a month to enroll my daughter in the private sector. But despite this situation. I understand the teachers on strike, they receive a pittance, 650 dinars per month, it’s normal that they are frankly fed up. »
The Ministry of Education issued an ultimatum on Tuesday to teachers asking them to sign the proposed new contracts and return to their posts by November 10. The union for basic education has, in response, threatened to organize sit-ins in schools next week.
►Also read: In Tunisia, substitute teachers on strike against their precarious working conditions