Time to Roll Up Our Sleeves and Build the Pillars of a New Education System?
Since the 1991 reform, which has been widely criticized for its educational missteps and unprecedented decline in both knowledge acquisition and student merit, stakeholders in the sector, including the target population of students and parents, are almost unanimous in their imperative and urgent need to reform the sector.
A national consultation was conducted in 2023/2024, in which over 580,000 citizens participated. The results of the consultation were submitted to the Higher Council of Education and Teaching to identify the sector's priorities and outline a long-awaited reform. To this day, the establishment of a national strategy based on the results of the consultation has been delayed, as have the beneficial actions related to it. However, while strategic work must necessarily follow any measure, profitable actions can be taken immediately. Ridha Zahrouni, president of the Tunisian Association of Parents and Students (Atupe), sees the reform of education and teaching through two well-defined axes of work: a strategic axis and an "here-and-now" axis.
The Imperative of a Prospective Vision
Indeed, the strategic aspect must dissect everything related to education, teaching, and training. "If we continue to implement the principle of education for education's sake, we will head straight for catastrophe! The reform of the sector must be the result of a prospective vision, through which we will know where to go and what the effectiveness of school will be on the future of students and the job market.
We must ask ourselves: what jobs do we foresee for these children? This is a necessary preliminary work for any action. Also, the reform - which is a national matter - must be multi-interventional and multi-specialized," he explains to La Presse. Another elementary condition to be respected in the reform is the separation of the phases of teaching. Each phase of teaching has its own criteria, requirements, pedagogical tools, and evaluation.
The Primary Phase: Strengthening the Mastery of Basic Acquisitions
That being said, while waiting for a complete and adapted strategic vision for each phase of teaching, constructive actions can be taken without violating the future reform; actions that can be accomplished immediately. "We must say that much needs to be done immediately! We can start by reforming the primary phase, which remains, without a doubt, the basis of all other phases.
Reforming the primary teaching phase is not complicated. It suffices to bring students to improve their learning and basic acquisitions, such as writing, reading, and calculation, in the two basic languages, Arabic and French," suggests Mr. Zahrouni. And when evoking the French language, he does not fail to clarify the dispute over the primacy of the two foreign languages, French and English.
Place for 39 Weeks of Classes!
Another action that, according to the president of Atupe, could, or rather should, be initiated as early as next year is the early start of the school year, on September 1st. Such a measure will be of great use to both students and teachers; a utility that Zahrouni estimates at 10% more of the potential of students and teachers.
"If we opt for thirty-nine weeks of classes instead of just thirty-three, we will take a significant step in managing school time. This time plays to the detriment of the student's well-being, who must organize their day between school time, private lessons, and revision at home. Under pressure, they thus endure a reduction in their capacity for assimilation and physical capacity. And we still wonder about the causes of violence in schools, when everything pushes the student to be hostile," he explains.
Putting an End to Idle Hours!
The organization of the school schedule should necessarily include the avoidance of idle hours. "This is also a possible action that does not require strategies," notes Zahrouni. Avoiding idle hours will make it possible to free up social time, which could be exploited by students in cultural, sports, and recreational activities.
It will also serve as a means of combating insecurity in the vicinity of schools. "The student goes to school to attend classes. Once the classes are over, they go home. It should be as simple and categorical as that," he adds.
Making the 6th Grade Exam Mandatory and Decisive
Moreover, and still in this perspective of saving the basic education sector by taking feasible and urgent actions, the representative of civil society engaged in education calls for the reinstatement of the 6th grade exam. According to Zahrouni's opinion, the conversion of this exam from a passage from the 6th year to the 1st year of college to a quasi-systematic passage was established to remedy the school dropout rate, which was approaching 80% at the end of the primary phase.
However, making the 6th grade exam a national, optional competition, whose main utility consists of selecting scholars worthy of pilot colleges, has only made things worse! The automatic passage from the 6th to the 7th year of basic education has unfortunately established the principle of prohibited grade repetition, regardless of the student's level.
According to Zahrouni, "reinstating the mandatory passage of the 6th grade exam will push all students to do their best to have the merit that qualifies them for the next phase of basic education. It is high time to reintroduce the notion of merit among primary school students and put in place the necessary means to combat school dropout, private lessons, and social and regional disparities in the quality of education.
The public school must have the means to guarantee quality education. Moreover, it is necessary to revise the infrastructural and human resources mapping to avoid overcrowding and emptiness of schools."
Alphabet Letters Instead of Grades
The president of Atupe also recommends revising the grading system in schools. "Awarding grades as an evaluation of a student's level and merit in basic education, especially in primary education, only creates a sense of pressure and anxiety in them. In countries where the education system is developed, evaluation is done using the alphabet," he recalls.
All these reformist actions should be implemented to initiate an urgent reform, which, in the eyes of parents, students, and teachers, must inevitably save future generations and establish the foundations of a system that we want to be efficient, adapted to the requirements of knowledge, international norms, and the emerging needs of the job market.
The future basic education system must, above all, take into account the supreme interest of the student. The student has the right to quality education and to be initiated not only into learning but also into life!
