Zawaya

When teachers are depreciated

By: Saloua Charfi

In Tunisia, corporal punishment in school is prohibited by law, under penalty of imprisonment for the guilty teachers committing it. Nevertheless, students allow themselves to assault their teachers.

The observatory of the teachers’ union -founded for this purpose – has recorded 15 lawsuits involving violence and aggression against teachers during the first six months of the school year, and 20 strikes between April 14 and May 20 in protest against violence.

These are not isolated cases; this is rather a phenomenon of “systematic violence”, as described by the teachers’ union in a recent statement.

The reasons given by the attackers are often related to bad grades or punishment. Aggression acts are committed by both students and parents, and even sometimes by people paid for this purpose. The responsibility is therefore shared between parents and children.

Tunisians, who are Arab-Muslims, are shocked by this violence because their culture considers teachers to be almost prophets.

So how can we explain this radical change of values? And what are the possible remedies for it?

This issue is to be studied in depth, but we can suggest a few answers to these questions based on our observations and discussions with people involved in this phenomenon.

For some people, the respectability of teachers was due to their belonging to the category of notables; but today, teachers are depreciated because of the decline of their purchasing power. Teachers are now classified in an intermediate position between the middle class and the poor class. They often take the subway with their poor students in conditions that are not worthy of their status and age, whereas wealthier students are better dressed than their teachers. People’s image has become increasingly valuable among Tunisians who often judge others based on their appearances.

The most decisive reason, however, is the depreciation of diplomas, since education is no longer the most guaranteed way to reach a higher social class or at least secure a job. Unemployment affects young university graduates badly, and the State considers this problem a priority.

Finally, as is the case in the entire world, parents are overwhelmed by new technologies and fail to control their children’s electronic culture where violence is increasingly present. However, this does not explain the complicity of parents who often abuse teachers by themselves, unless we take into account the fact that the Tunisian child is a “child-king” because of the policy of birth control that has been widespread since the sixties. Statistics show that our society is aging, and that the average number of births is less than two per couple. These children are thus precious and sometimes even spoiled.

Based on these observations, officials may consider the following ways to fight school violence: polish the image of teachers to add value to their profession, solve the problem of graduates’ unemployment, and insist on the vigilance of parents; this can only be done in the context of an institution allowing dialogue. The media should also actively participate in this rehabilitation process since speeches alone are never enough.