The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES) reacted strongly to the tragedy on Monday April 14 at the MAZZOUNA delegation (governorate of Sidi Bouzid), where the collapse of a wall caused the death of three students and injured several others.
In a statement published on Tuesday, the organization calls on the government to abandon its austerity policies in the educational sector and to set up an emergency plan to save public school.
The FTDES insists on the need to carry out a complete inventory of school infrastructure, stressing that the degradation of establishments constitutes a direct threat to the safety of students. “Schools are no longer places of learning, but spaces of danger, violence and slow death,” he deplores.
The organization believes that this disaster is the direct result of the deterioration of public services and the deep crisis that the education system in Tunisia is going through. It calls for the immediate opening of an investigation to establish administrative and criminal responsibilities, and requests accounts at the Ministry of Education, pointed out for its laxity in terms of maintenance and prevention.
The FTDES presents its condolences to the families of the victims and expresses its solidarity with the wounded, while denouncing decades of negligence with regard to the public school, especially in the marginalized regions.
