Tunisia traditionally prides itself on its education system, but the country had a brutal reality check in September, when a key government official announced that its illiteracy levels had risen for the first time since independence in 1956. Tunisia is now working with the United Nations’ cultural and educational arm, UNESCO, to improve adult literacy levels and reach school dropouts. Experts believe there is a growing need for national campaigns to make education valuable again in the eyes of the people.

Tunisian Minister of Social Affairs Mohammad al-Traboulsi announced during a press conference Sept. 12 that illiteracy in Tunisia had risen from 18.2% in 2017 to 19.1% in 2018. These figures shocked Tunisians, who often pride themselves as the most educated and cultivated society in the Arab region.

Traboulsi outlined the vulnerable groups and geographic areas prone to higher rates of illiteracy. He said illiteracy was steadily rising among rural women, 41% of whom are illiterate, according to 2018 figures. Illiteracy rates are higher in the northwest and central west of Tunisia, at more than 30%. In the agricultural sector, 53% of workers are illiterate, while 22.4% of workers in the service sector are illiterate. Those who drop out of formal education numbered 120,000, 20% of whom are at risk of regressing to illiteracy, according to the information given by Traboulsi.

“The government failed in fighting illiteracy among the elderly,” Tunisian historian Adel al-Luteifi told Radio Monte Carlo Sept. 15. Luteifi said the decline of literacy could be due to lack of funds amid the economic crisis or because of the 2011 political chaos. “Early dropout from schools — caused by the increasing cost of education — is among the key reasons behind the rise in illiteracy,” he said, adding that families allow their children to drop out of school because they can no longer afford to keep them there.