Tunisia's student movements during the independence era: An educational history

The study examines Tunisian students and the role that they played in Tunisia's struggle for independence from French colonial rule. An analysis of a nationalist movement from the students' perspective, illuminates an element of society which had been neglected by scholars before the 1960s. The experience of Tunisia's students lends to a better comprehension of the relationship between western education and the inception and development of a nationalist movement. Adapting a qualitative approach, this historical study relied on two methods of data collection: interviews and written resources. Interviewees were all former students from the late 1940s to independence in 1956. Primary written sources included French government archives, newspaper articles, and student publications. Data from written sources and interviews were collected in Tunisia. Through the experience of Tunisia's youth we can better understand the political impact of colonial educational policy. The paths of education within the colonial system in Tunisia, found in the Islamic, European/French, and Franco-Arab programs, engendered strands of identity in Tunisia's youth of the period which have repercussions in North Africa today. The young Africans who followed the curriculum of western education, began to question the inequalities inherent to the colonial structure. The educational system, originally established to produce African administrators and 'assimilated' Africans, led to disillusionment among African students. Learning their lessons well, the students turned schooling to their favor and established a nationalist movement. At the same time, Zaytunian instruction, which once prepared its students to assume important leadership roles in Tunisia, left its graduates economically, politically, and socially marginalized within the colonial system. Well aware of the educational issues which divided the youth, leaders of various political forces recognized the importance of organizing and manipulating the youth to accomplish the parties' political agendas.