Many Students, Few Jobs: In Tunisia, Education is Frustration
21 January 2011
Read by 1482 persons
Education data reveals a unique Tunisian situation. Paradoxically, it's a source of conflict for those who benefit from the educational infrastructure but can't leverage their diplomas in the job market.
Education accounts for 22.4% of Tunisia's state budget, according to the World Bank. It's interesting to compare this effort to that of other young countries, geographically and otherwise close, such as Algeria, with 20.3% of its budget, and Egypt, with 11.9%. This relatively high effort has not significantly reduced Tunisia's illiteracy rate: it went from 22.4% in 2003 to 22.1% in 2007.
A Tunisian peculiarity dating back to Bourguiba's presidency
President Bourguiba implemented this educational investment, at the expense of spending on police and the army. Since Ben Ali's arrival, spending on the army and police has increased, but it seems that a part of this peculiarity in the field of education has been maintained:
Net enrollment rates are close to 100% in primary school and 73% in secondary school, and the number of students is growing rapidly;
1. The number of students increased from 121,800 in 1996-1997 to around 336,000 in 2006-2007, and a forecast of nearly 450,000 students for 2014;
2. However, the population is only 10.3 million inhabitants. In France, there are 2.2 million students for a population more than six times larger; in other words, Tunisia has a structurally high number of students in proportion to its population (even considering France's much older age structure).
Students without job prospects?
A study jointly conducted by the Tunisian Ministry of Employment and Youth Professional Integration and the World Bank, titled "Employment Dynamics and the Adequacy of Training among University Graduates," published in 2008, showed an excess of new graduates compared to the level of economic activity.
Every year, 85,000 people enter the job market for only 60,000 to 65,000 additional positions. A growth rate of 10% would be needed to absorb all these new entrants. This is far from the case.
Result: 46% of young, higher-educated workers were unemployed eighteen months after graduation. For women, the unemployment rate is even higher. As for graduates from shorter programs, those that should have higher employability, they are in fact the most exposed to unemployment.
A democratic demand from educated youth
This gap between diplomas and careers has a threefold dimension:
1. There is always a democratic demand from educated youth which, far from summarizing what is happening, is undoubtedly a factor in current events;
2. Studies go hand in hand with a legitimate aspiration to find a job – and a salary – in line with the diploma obtained. Clearly, this is not working, and it has been going on long enough to create deep-seated suffering and disappointment within the population, generation after generation;
3. Finally, some students travel, to France – or elsewhere – and then return home, and this exposure reinforces the above two aspirations, democratic and professional.
However, the economic crisis, corruption, and the actual capture of income by former political leaders have hampered, perhaps even prevented, the expression of these demands. It was time for change.
Published January 19, 2011
Posted online January 21, 2011
rue89.com
Education accounts for 22.4% of Tunisia's state budget, according to the World Bank. It's interesting to compare this effort to that of other young countries, geographically and otherwise close, such as Algeria, with 20.3% of its budget, and Egypt, with 11.9%. This relatively high effort has not significantly reduced Tunisia's illiteracy rate: it went from 22.4% in 2003 to 22.1% in 2007.
A Tunisian peculiarity dating back to Bourguiba's presidency
President Bourguiba implemented this educational investment, at the expense of spending on police and the army. Since Ben Ali's arrival, spending on the army and police has increased, but it seems that a part of this peculiarity in the field of education has been maintained:
Net enrollment rates are close to 100% in primary school and 73% in secondary school, and the number of students is growing rapidly;
1. The number of students increased from 121,800 in 1996-1997 to around 336,000 in 2006-2007, and a forecast of nearly 450,000 students for 2014;
2. However, the population is only 10.3 million inhabitants. In France, there are 2.2 million students for a population more than six times larger; in other words, Tunisia has a structurally high number of students in proportion to its population (even considering France's much older age structure).
Students without job prospects?
A study jointly conducted by the Tunisian Ministry of Employment and Youth Professional Integration and the World Bank, titled "Employment Dynamics and the Adequacy of Training among University Graduates," published in 2008, showed an excess of new graduates compared to the level of economic activity.
Every year, 85,000 people enter the job market for only 60,000 to 65,000 additional positions. A growth rate of 10% would be needed to absorb all these new entrants. This is far from the case.
Result: 46% of young, higher-educated workers were unemployed eighteen months after graduation. For women, the unemployment rate is even higher. As for graduates from shorter programs, those that should have higher employability, they are in fact the most exposed to unemployment.
A democratic demand from educated youth
This gap between diplomas and careers has a threefold dimension:
1. There is always a democratic demand from educated youth which, far from summarizing what is happening, is undoubtedly a factor in current events;
2. Studies go hand in hand with a legitimate aspiration to find a job – and a salary – in line with the diploma obtained. Clearly, this is not working, and it has been going on long enough to create deep-seated suffering and disappointment within the population, generation after generation;
3. Finally, some students travel, to France – or elsewhere – and then return home, and this exposure reinforces the above two aspirations, democratic and professional.
However, the economic crisis, corruption, and the actual capture of income by former political leaders have hampered, perhaps even prevented, the expression of these demands. It was time for change.
Published January 19, 2011
Posted online January 21, 2011
rue89.com
