For President Kais Saied, Sovereignty Goes Beyond Politics and Festivals
Sovereignty is not limited to political positions or festivals where freedom and the empowerment of oppressed peoples are celebrated. According to President Saied, sovereignty is primarily educational, as a people with a high proportion of illiterate citizens has no right to claim sovereignty. Ignorance prevents them from enjoying sovereignty and dignity.
The Importance of Education
Those who spend their energy daily disparaging the President and his government, reminiscing about the "good old days" when Noureddine B'hiri and Abdelhamid Jelassi taught Islamic principles, deliberately or ignorantly forget that education concerns not only students but also the broader population. The new school year is not just about schools and universities, but also about vocational training centers (within state and private institutions) and seniors enrolled in the national program for teaching older adults, part of the national strategy for lifelong learning. This is a euphemism for combating illiteracy, which is a relic of a bygone societal model that Tunisians have decided to combat and eradicate.
Preparing for a Successful School Year
Today, Friday, September 12, just two days before the start of the school year, as everyone mobilizes to lay the groundwork for a successful return to school, despite some unionists' legitimate but postponable demands, the Ministry of Social Affairs is emphasizing the need to provide the best conditions for our "fathers and mothers" to return to learning centers. The goal is to help them access reading and understanding of the fundamentals of education in its broadest sense.
Sovereignty and Education
Do we still need to emphasize that the sovereignty for which the Head of State advocates daily is not only political, economic, cultural, and environmental but also educational? As the President constantly stresses, a people with a high rate of illiteracy has no right to claim sovereignty and cannot behave as a free and responsible people.
The Tunisian People's Commitment to Sovereignty
The Tunisian people, who have loudly rejected all forms of servitude and mobilized their elites and masses in support of the societal project promoted by the July 25 process, have shown that they deserve the palm of excellence in terms of awareness and mobilization of peoples worldwide, particularly in Africa and Latin America, on the need to exercise their absolute right to educational sovereignty.
A Plan for African Liberation
At the recent summit in Algeria on intra-African trade, the President distinguished himself by calling for Africa to breathe fresh air and presenting a plan to free countries from Western oppression, which deprives them of their right to benefit from their natural resources under the pretext of economic constraints.
A National Strategy for Lifelong Learning
To return to the reopening of senior learning centers, it is worth noting that the Ministry of Social Affairs, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, has implemented a national strategy with axes that will concretize, in fact and reality, the right to lifelong learning.
