Khamis Ben Brik-Tunis
Thousands of professors left Tunisia on Wednesday for a "day of anger" in a number of states, in a continuing escalation of their angry moves against the Education Ministry's decisions, which did not meet their demands.
Hundreds of professors gathered outside the Tunisian General Labor Union building in Tunis before heading to the municipal theater runways, shouting slogans denouncing the deterioration of their social conditions, while there was widespread security in the streets.
Hundreds of professors gathered in front of the headquarters of the Labor Union and regional delegates for education in a number of governorates, raising flags of Tunisia and banners calling on the government to abandon the policy of repudiation of previous agreements and the disobedience of teachers to their terms.
These professors did not retreat from their escalatory moves, although the Ministry of Education announced yesterday that there was no deduction of salaries of professors for this month because of their failure to take examinations, but still the state of congestion inflamed.
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Since the beginning of December, the secondary education union, which includes thousands of professors, has decided to engage in a series of protests in response to the failure to accept their demands to increase them by improving them and improving the condition of dilapidated schools.
As a pressure paper against the Ministry of Education, the teachers chose to escalate the number of examinations, but this procedure caused a state of anger in the parents of students because of the repeated strikes and blocking the number, which affected the level of educational students, according to them.
| Teachers demand improvement of their situation (Al Jazeera) |
Poor condition
Faten, one of the parents of Al-Jazeera Net, says that the situation of education in Tunisia has become low because of the arms race between the union and the Ministry of Education, stressing that the students have become victims of the opportunism of both parties and victims of the low level of the educational system.
She denounces teachers' moves to increase their grants and get an early retirement at the age of 57, saying that there are more than 600,000 unemployed in Tunisia who have not acted in their own way, although their conditions are "much worse".
At the same time, she criticized the Ministry of Education, which said it had not saved the current school year from a four-year-old state of unrest, saying it was unable to take the lead in resolving the deteriorating education crisis to the abyss.
Students' interests
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On the position of the parents rejecting, Omar said one of the protesters that the professors are keen on the interests of students, considering that their defense of the reform of the education system and the deteriorating infrastructure is in defiance of the student's interest.
He assured Al Jazeera Net that the teachers' departure today in protest rallies in the whole country is an expression of the growing anger in the education sector due to the deterioration of all the conditions and the Ministry of Education's delay in the implementation of previous agreements.
Omar added that there is a drift by the Ministry of Education to implement agreements previously pledged to pay for the return of school teachers and address the deteriorating structures of schools, accusing them of demonizing teachers and trying to incite the parents against them.
The General Secretary of the Secondary Education Syndicate, Saad al-Yaqoubi, confirmed to Al-Jazeera Net that the professors are reluctant to take part in the protests because the Ministry of Education denies agreements to improve the status of teachers while continuing their attempts to demonize the parents.
| Yacoubi: The majority of professors, especially in the interior work in difficult conditions (the island) |
Poor suggestions
Yacoubi said in response to the Ministry of Education's proposal to resolve the crisis and restore the normal course of the lessons, the proposals are not serious and meager and do not respond to the aspirations of teachers, especially retirement at the age of 57 years and to grant them some grants.
He pointed out that most of the professors, especially the internal bodies working in difficult circumstances without any attention to their deteriorating situation.
It was not immediately possible to obtain a permit from an official of the Ministry of Education, which has not yet issued a statement to public opinion explaining its position on this strike. Note that the Minister of Education had previously expressed his rejection of such moves.