Chapter 1

Bask education tional school facilities are under construction to expand
physical access which the Bank is supporting under the
The Government has made a minimum of nine years edu- Secondary Education Project. Pedagogical retraining efforts
cation compulsory-according to each student's ability. need to (1) show teachers how to bring children along who
Quality education is available at all levels, but the system is are having difficulties and (2) make teachers accountable for
highly selective. Consequently, drop out/failure rates are a each student's success. The Government should also take
serious problem. The Eighth Plan's Education Reform advantage of advances in education technology to improve
Program is trying to increase primary level completion rates the way knowledge is transmitted. Even though
significantly for all Tunisian children for primary grades 1-6 Government expenditures on primary education are high
and lower secondary (defined as upper primary under the (41 percent of total recurrent expenditures compared to 59
Reform Program) grades 7-9. Grades 7-9 are important, percent for secondary/tertiary education), higher levels of
because children begin more advanced math skills and in public funding needs to be allocated to basic education to
some cases another language-in addition to Arabic and achieve these objectives. A solid primary education base
French. Considerable progress has been achieved in increas- (years 1-9) provides the cognitive, language, and analytical
ing completion rates through grade 6, but the current level skills to improve employment and earning opportunities for
of drop-outs between grades 6 and 7 pose a major challenge
for the Government (table 2.6).
young people.
High drop-out/failure rates are due to: (1) the traditional
dual role of teachers as educators and quality-controllers,
Vocational training
ensuring that only the best students pass to the next class; The Government recognizes vocational training needs to
(2) higher completion rates through grade 6 puts pressure respond to the continual training and retraining needs of
on the physical capacity (schools, teachers, materials) for today's work force and should not be used as a means of
grades 7-9 which also encourages selectivity (the occupying unemployed youth. At the same time, the
Government is addressing this constraint through its invest- Government is confronted with large numbers of students
ment program); and (3) parents, particularly from poorer that have not been able to complete the basic education
families, who are not convinced that school is as important stream (see above). The Government is using vocational
as alternative uses of the student's time and the families' training to serve two functions: (1) to upgrade the minimum
resources. The Government is trying to convince parents skills of those who have not completed the basic education
and teachers that all children must enroll and complete a stream and (2) to improve the quality of professional skill
minimum of nine years of basic education by making it com- training, retraining, and technical upgrading of the labor
pulsory for those who have the capability. force through a more market driven approach. To achieve
As of 1993, the national exam at the end of grade 6 was the first objective, it would be more cost efficient to reduce
replaced with school-based exams under provincial (and less drop-outs and keep these students in the basic stream rather
selective) control. Teacher qualifications and curriculum than use costly vocational training for students that are not
development for grades 7-9 are being upgraded and addi- even equipped with the basic education needed to make
TABLE 2.6
good use of this training. Regarding the second objective,
the Ministry of Vocational Training and Employment is try-
General education attainment rates, 1992 ing to improve the quality and commercial relevance of
Lwl of schooling
Number of
students
vocational training by using part-time teachers from the
business community and by having businessmen well-rep-
Begin grade I 100 resented on the schools' boards, guiding the curriculum.
Readc grade 6
Complete grade 6
Begin grade 7
78
62
32
The more successful government-assisted professional
training programs generally use a combination of tax incen-
Complete grade 13 23 tives to encourage private firns to offer training and voucher
Obtain baccalaureate 5 schemes, whereby individuals can use government-issued
Source: Prst-Bozc Educio 1994. vouchers to select appropriate training in the private sector
ROLE OF THE STATE IN THE ECONOMY 21