The vast majority of rural primary schools in Tunisia suffer from very poor hygiene and sanitation conditions.
In rural communities, most schools are located many kilometers from where people live. Sometimes the classrooms are located in areas that are difficult to access and dangerous for the children, who have to travel up to 20 km a day. There is also a lack of electricity. This is yet another difficulty that complicates the situation.
The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES) expressed its alarm in a document entitled “Schools without water: a return to thirst”, which contains a series of urgent recommendations for the start of the new school year, as well as general medium- and long-term recommendations aimed at guaranteeing the right to water, mainly involving the Ministries of Education and Agriculture and the Tunisian Water Distribution Utility (SONEDE).
In this booklet, the Forum revealed that the number of primary schools not fully connected to water networks is estimated at 527 schools, or 12% of the total number of primary schools, which amounts to some 4,583 schools.
He noted that these schools, located in the interior of the country and in rural areas, are supplied with water through “dangerous and unknown” methods such as cisterns and tanks, warning that this can lead to health complications and illnesses among pupils.
A total of 834 primary schools are supplied with water by water distribution associations, which, according to the document, “face serious problems that prevent them from fulfilling their role”.
The FTDES recommends the use of water tanks in rural schools in accordance with the specifications of the Ministry of Health and the regular cleaning of the tankers that deliver water to rural schools.
A socially responsible approach
As part of its general recommendations, the Forum called for a budget to be allocated to extend water connections to all rural schools, for a socially responsible approach to be adopted by involving mineral water bottling companies near schools, and for an alternative to be found for associations in rural areas.
He called for an accelerated review of projects to provide drinking water to schools, and for the replacement of harmful plastic tanks with terracotta or sterilized materials that are healthy and environmentally friendly.
Even today, schools in the most remote parts of rural Tunisia have no water or electricity, and often no infrastructure (classrooms and toilets).
Pupils have to walk long distances every day to reach them, and the teachers who have to live there feel completely isolated.
These situations create serious inequalities within the Tunisian population. All these problems, which have existed for several years, create unfavorable conditions for the educational success of children in rural areas.
An in-depth reform of rural education, the construction of classrooms, canteens, boarding schools and access roads, requires the commitment not only of the Ministry of Education but also of the Ministries of Transport, Public Works, Housing, Youth, etc.
