Forging a New Social Contract for Education in Tunisia

In December 2022, UNESCO received a written engagement on Tunisia’s efforts to forge a new social contract for education, in response to the Reimagining our Futures Together report released in November 2021.

This initiative has involved a wide range of constituencies, including the Tunisian Ministry of Education, the Arab Institute for Human Rights – chaired by Mr Abdelbasset Ben Hassen, a member of the International Commission on the Futures of Education –, the Tunisian General Labor Union, civil society organizations, students and youth movements, and various other international organizations – UNFPA, UNHCR, and UNICEF.

The seven-page document entitled New Social Contract for Education in Tunisia in light of the Report of the International Commission on the Futures of Education builds on the outcomes of two conferences:

• A first conference on the Futures of Education in Tunisia was held on 21st December 2021, just a month after the launch of the UNESCO report, Reimagining our Futures Together: A new social contract for education. It is at this conference that the idea of forging a new social contract for education in Tunisia first emerged.
• The annual conference on the Futures of Education in Arab Countries – Policies, Approaches, and Work Decisions – followed on 13–14 May 2022. The event was organized by the Arab Institute for Human Rights, in partnership with UNESCO and a number of Arab and Tunisian civil society organizations.

The inclusive dynamic created by these conferences have helped shape a shared vision and roadmap for the renewal of education and knowledge systems in Tunisia. While it is still a work in progress, the New Social Contract for Education in Tunisia report fleshes out common ambitions, key strategic objectives, and concrete commitments for the transformation of education in Tunisia.

Even more encouraging in this ‘new social contract’ is the commitment to govern education as a common good, according to principles of equity, cooperation, solidarity, and collective responsibility. Some of the overarching goals articulated in the document are by and large inspired from the Futures of Education report. For instance, the Tunisian report expressed commitments to “ensuring that teaching is no longer an individual practice and that it is rather a collaborative profession”. The document also called for the relinquishment of indoctrination-based education to give greater prominence to critical thinking, creativity, interactivity, and problem-solving based on dialogue and discussion.

The report of the International Commission on the Futures of Education, now available in Arabic, will continue to spark public dialogue in Tunisia, and support the forging of a new social contract for education anchored in the principles of education as a common good and a collective public endeavor.