School Dropout Rate Rises As Student Engage In Extremist Movements

Tunisia Student Extremist

The new academic year kicked off Monday (September 16th) in Tunisia. Thousands of students watched this scene from afar, however, after dropping out prematurely from school.

The head of the General Union of Secondary School Teachers, Lassaad Yacoubi, warned last month of a serious crisis about to hit the education sector.

Yacoubi cited alarming figures published by the education ministry. About 100,000 pupils dropped out of school in 2012, a 30 per cent increase compared to the average of previous years.

"We need to accelerate the reform of the educational system and supervise Tunisian youth, who because of deteriorating standards of living and lack of a horizon, drop out of school and engage in many unsafe experiments such as parallel trade, illegal immigration, or even engagement in extremist movements," Yacoubi said on August 26th.

Such extremists are even able to connect with young people on their schools' campuses, he noted.

"There are activities and advocacy tents organised by associations belonging to religious militant movements in front of educational institutions. These activities took place the entire last school year right in front of everyone," Yacoubi said.

"Speeches calling for extremism and hatred sent tens of young people to jihad in Syria," he added. There were also "statements condemning mixing in the schools between boys and girls", the union chief said.

The student attrition rate is getting attention from all parties. According to education ministry official Hadi al-Saidi, the government "is in the process of conducting studies to determine the primary causes of this phenomenon and to determine ways to eliminate it altogether".

But for long-time teacher Monia Ferjani, the dropout spike was no surprise.

"Personally, I expected it, as the two years after the revolution were difficult for the educational system as a whole," she told Magharebia. "Students naturally were the first affected, due to their young age and lack of experience in dealing with change," she said.

According to young teacher Mahmoud al-Jdidi, students today "lack motivation because of the popular belief about lack of a future".

"Young men no longer consider teachers as role models, but rather football players who are bought and sold for millions," he added.

Sixteen-year-old Mourad Yahyaoui is among the young people who decided to leave school.

"I now collect and sell plastic items," he said. "They provide me with a daily income. I am not interested anymore in studies. In addition, my father refuses the burden of school expenses."

The cost of materials, even at state-run schools, is a persistent problem.

Earlier this month, the General Union of Secondary School Teachers protested the government's method of determining prices for school supplies and textbooks.

Tunisian families this year faced "a new price increase that even reached subsidised school supplies", the Union pointed out in its September 4th statement.

"We reject any act affecting the access of people to science and knowledge," the teachers' union said.