In Tunisia, the tone is hardening in the education sector. Nearly 4,000 replacement teachers in primary education have been on strike since the start of the school year because of a delay in the payment of their salaries and a lack of recruitment prospects. A day of protest is scheduled for November 1, but various protest movements have already been mobilizing the sector for a week.
With our correspondent in Tunis, Lilia Blaise
In Ben Arous, in the southern suburbs of Tunis, Emna Mekaoui, 42, is a French teacher. On strike since the start of the school year with some colleagues, she is angry: “ I worked eight years on replacements. Except that this year, the minister changed his mind. He wants to give us four-year contracts and after that, it will be internships or recruitment. Personally, I’m 42, so do I have the time? »
Emna should have been hired, according to an agreement signed in 2020 with another government which had already completed the tenure of 80% of its colleagues in the past two years. But the current education minister, Fethi Sellaouti, said that the economic context of the country no longer allows this formula and that the situation of these teachers will only be regularized in four years.
Lamia Belhadj, another teacher who coordinates the strike movement in Ben Arous, works in precarious conditions. ” I have worked in several regions of Tunisia in schools where sometimes you have to walk for miles, because the roads are not usable for public transport. In general, we are paid our salaries 8 to 9 months late “, she testifies.
Friday, October 28, President Kais Saied called on the Minister of Education to resolve the crisis as soon as possible. The strike movement has led, in some regions of Tunisia, to the closure of some schools for lack of teachers. As a result, tens of thousands of students are out of school.