The protectorate introduces new ideas in education.…

The protectorate introduces new ideas in education.

The French director of public education looks after all schools in Tunisia, including religious ones.

In a more pragmatic vein, schools teaching modern subjects in a European language will produce a cadre of Tunisians with the skills necessary to staff the growing government bureaucracy.

Soon after the protectorate’s establishment, the Directorate of Public Education sets up a unitary school system for French and Tunisian pupils designed to draw the two peoples closer together.

The French language is the medium of instruction in these Franco-Arab schools, and their curriculum imitates that of schools in metropolitan France.

French-speaking students who attend them study Arabic as a second language.

Racial mixing rarely occurs in schools in the cities, in which various religious denominations continue to provide elementary schools.

The Franco-Arab schools will attain somewhat greater success in rural areas but will never enroll more than a fifth of Tunisia's eligible students.

At the summit of the modern education system is Kheireddine's Sadiki College.

Highly competitive examinations regulate admission to Sadiki, but its graduates are almost assured government positions by virtue of their training in modern subjects and French.