2023-07-30 14:03:08
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This article has been written within the framework of Advox’s collaboration with Small Media Foundation to present the UPROAR initiativea series of essays that highlight the challenges in terms of digital rights in countries that are in the process of the United Nations Universal Periodic Review.
Tunisia prided itself on its high level of literacy, especially among women. But, since the 2011 revolution, the country is in free fall. School dropouts have increased, with thousands leaving school each year without knowing how to read, write, or use online information meaningfully.
Tunez to two speeds
Things are not looking up in Tunisia, with a grim new indicator on education. The Tunisian Minister of Social Affairs, Malek Zahi, declared that “today there are more than two million illiterates, which represents an enormous challenge for our development.” It is equivalent to almost 20% of the Tunisian population. For comparison, this rate is barely 1% in most Western countries. He illiteracy is higher in the rural and inland regions of the center and northwest, reflecting the country’s economic disparity. And what is more alarming, illiteracy occurs today among young people: the 70% of the illiterates are among those who left school early, aged between 12 and 18 years. At an age when they should be digital natives, many young Tunisians start life without the basic skills to navigate an increasingly complex and digital world.
In this context, the social and digital divide between the most and least educated Tunisians is likely to increase in the coming years if there is no specific intervention on digital skills. The larger the gap grows, the greater the risk that the poorest will be left behind and excluded, threatening social cohesion. Hadjer, a public school teacher who has been asked to take early retirement, spoke to Global Voices about the deplorable situation:
The middle-class, which used to be the backbone of the country, has shrunk. Today there is a two-speed Tunisia with a parallel system in education, healthcare, employment … People are living in social silos and insulating themselves. Parents who can afford it are putting their children into private schools. The poorest are wandering the streets, doing precarious badly paid jobs or looking to smuggle themselves abroad.
The middle class, which was the backbone of the country, has shrunk. Today there is a Tunisia at two speeds, with a parallel system in education, health, employment… People live in social silos and isolate themselves. Parents who can afford it enroll their children in private schools. The poorest roam the streets, do poorly paid precarious jobs or seek to emigrate clandestinely.
Digital illiteracy: “The Internet is complicated to use”
Although cost remains an obstacle for the poorest and the young, as pointed out in a recent study on digital inclusion in Tunisia carried out by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), a bigger problem is the lack of knowledge and understanding of information technology itself. The main reason for not using the internet is not knowing how to use it. Although people have access to technology, they need basic knowledge to make good use of the Internet. Najoua, a civil servant working on a program to integrate youth into the job market, told Global Voices:
Unfortunately access to the internet hasn’t necessarily translated to empowerment. Many don’t know how to use the internet to find online useful information and services. The internet is still not perceived and understood as a space that can be used for learning and help to get skills, services and even jobs.
Unfortunately, access to the internet has not necessarily translated into empowerment. Many do not know how to use the internet to find useful information and services online. The Internet is still not perceived and understood as a space that can be used to learn and help to have skills, services and even jobs.
This is due to the fact that, in Tunisia, how the population understands the internet is above all in social networks, and more specifically in Facebook, which is the most used social network in Tunisia. In January 2020 there were more than 6.9 million active users, representing 75% of the population. It is the main source of information and misinformation. Many have denounced that social networks have fueled the social tensions. The journalism professor Sadok El Hammami explained that, in Tunisia, “Facebook is invading our daily lives and needs to be regulated so that it is not a threat to our lives.”
This is doubly important, as the uneducated have less developed critical thinking skills and are therefore more vulnerable to propaganda and fake news. When the Tunisian president Kais Saied claimed that there was a “criminal plan to change the Tunisian demographic composition by foreign powers” in February 2023, a torrent of fake news on social media spread hatred against sub-Saharans. People did not know how to distinguish between the truth and a lie, and unleashed a wave of racist insults.
Because of his lack of awareness and tools, browsing the internet safely and protecting data and privacy is an even greater challenge for women. According to the media platform Nawaat, 80% of Tunisian women have experienced online violence. This violence is multidimensional (it includes sexual harassment, stalking and intimidation) and is widespread on social networks, where Tunisian women spend most of their time. Anxiety, depression and social isolation increase.
Lack of inclusive and accessible content
As the world rapidly moves into the digital age, institutions must take comprehensive proactive steps to ensure that the needs of the poorest communities are taken into account in the offer – ensuring that content is inclusive – and in the set of skills – ensuring that people have enough digital literacy to fully benefit and participate. And it is that designing, testing and implementing digital solutions, however simplified they may be, is still an expensive process. It is necessary to promote empathy and knowledge about digital poverty if the problems of lack of inclusion on the supply side are to be addressed. Online content should be in an easy-to-understand language and medium. But these days, most of the content online is written. The Tunisian newspaper La Presse highlights that, since “most digital content is written, its assimilation is difficult for those who do not master the basics of reading, writing or arithmetic”. With more than half of the web content in EnglishArabic, spoken by about 4.5% of the world’s population, represents less than 1% of total online content. People who are primarily fluent in Arabic, with limited ability to read English or French, are left out of most online content.
Online and offline literacy: A question of social justice
In 2021, with the support of the international community, Tunisia launched the «second chance school» to reinsert each year into education and vocational training about a thousand young people between the ages of 12 and 18 who drop out of school throughout the country. The program is multidisciplinary and personalized according to the needs of the students. It focuses on basic literacy and includes the use of the internet. Civil society organizations are also carrying out various media and information literacy projects with schools and youth. These initiatives, while welcome and much needed to equip all citizens with the skills to understand, engage and create information, should be accelerated and scaled up.
As the world moves faster and deeper into a digital society of knowledge and services, with e-commerce, e-learning and e-government, among others, it is essential that everyone, especially the less educated, be able to take advantage of the Get the most out of digital transformation. There is no time to waste in integrating digital literacy into any educational program for the most vulnerable, so that the internet can be a force for good.
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