Tunisia: how high school clubs help students learn about music
Audio 01:34
Students from the Alaoui high school in Tunis playing music.
© RFI/Amira Souilem
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
In Tunisia, music clubs now exist in all public secondary schools in the country.
6,000 students have access to music lessons.
Last year, they organized more than 150 concerts which attracted some 14,000 spectators.
Report on the Alaoui high school in Tunis, one of the 591 partner establishments of this operation called “Tunisia88” in reference to the 88 keys of the piano.
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With our correspondent in Tunis,
Amira Souilem
It is 1 p.m., while students are leaving in groups to go to lunch, a small group of young people are heading towards a room at the back of the courtyard.
Like every week, it's a music workshop.
A piano, a guitar, a darbouka and a motivated choir.
In Arabic, English, French or Italian, the songs follow one another.
In all, about fifty young people decided to join this workshop.
Like Zeynab, 16: “
My vision of life has changed thanks to this club.
Before, I stayed alone, I kept everything to myself, I didn't like mixing with others.
By joining this club, I found myself a family, friends who are there when I need them in all circumstances.
»
Mondher, 18, agrees: “
With the school administration, things have changed too.
Before, they were tough on us.
Now the supervisors look at us differently.
They don't just see us as students anymore.
»
A high school in Tunis.
Thanks to the unshakeable will of some passionate people, all high schools in Tunisia now have a music club.
6,000 students took part in more than 150 concerts last year, which attracted some 14,000 spectators.
1/2 pic.twitter.com/LG3ma8yjIm
— Amira Souilem (@amirasouilem) January 20, 2023
As Tunisia struggles with an intense political and economic crisis, Rabaa Mwelhi, the program's national coordinator, sees these workshops as a kind of haven for Tunisian youth.
“
We try to keep the children a little brooded
, she underlines.
They are in their universe, they are in the music, they are in the love of the country, they are in the musical creation, they are in the collaboration
”.
“In this different setting, the students trust us more”
Beyond musical learning, those in charge of this initiative see in music a factor of appeasement and cohesion in Tunisian schools.
This was noted by Yousra Mabrouki, the general supervisor of the Alaoui high school in Tunis, who oversees the workshops there.
"
When the club was launched, we started with only four students
," she says.
The first year, we won a contest thanks to a song we wrote together.
We received a grand piano as a prize, a great pride for us.
Generations will pass and this piano will remain a treasure for us
.”
She continues:
“Now my dream is to have the biggest choir possible because not all students can learn to play an instrument.
Not everyone can afford it.
Those who know how to play teach others.
It is the group spirit that I try to teach them through this workshop.
I want them to learn to love themselves too.
Music is a bridge for that.
»
Yousra Mabrouki concludes: “
In this different setting, the students trust us more, they no longer see me as the
'general supervisor
'.
I have gained so much in terms of communication with the students thanks to this club.
Lots of love too.
And that is priceless.
»
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