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A
S A RESULT
of the various transformations and innovations
brought by ICT along with globalization, all the nations
worldwide are racing to join the first ranks in this new ever-
changing information society. Coping with these changes and
catching up the track have become a real challenge mainly for the
developing countries. The challenge is even more difficult when it
comes to education; experiences in distance education / e-learn-
ing and online tutoring have become quite common. We are going
to take the Tunisian Virtual School (TVS) – an essential basis of
the School of Tomorrow – as an example of pioneer experiences
in North Africa and in the Arab Countries. Tunisia has been one of
the first countries to contribute to the new technological changes
in the field of distance education/e-learning through the launching
of the Tunisian Virtual School in an experimental phase on 28
January 2002. In fact, as clearly stated in the Presidential Election
Programme, all the components of the Tunisian Virtual School will
be completed before the end of 2009.
The Ministry of Education and Training, through the INBMI
(National Institute of Office Automation and Computing) has
been working on the TVS programme since that date, deploying
all the human and technical resources required to make it a
success story and an example to follow.
Components, objectives and services of the TVS
The following facts and figures are very significant for the imple-
mentation of this ambitious national project and help pave the
way towards the information society:
• 2 267000 students are enrolled at school
• 100 per cent of high schools are connected to the Internet. By
the end of the National 10th Plan, the quality of Internet
connection will be improved
• 100 per cent of preparatory schools will be connected to the
Internet by the end of 2006
• Up until now, more than 1300 primary schools out of 4000 have
been connected to the internet and the remaining ones will benefit
from this service at the end of the National 10th Plan in 2006.
At the beginning, the TVS provided lessons in English and French
only to the baccalaureate students through its Academic and
Assistance Department (AAD) to improve their collaborative and
autonomous learning and to prepare them for the Baccalaureate
Exam. Then gradually, it has relied on teams of experienced teach-
ers and inspectors to add more disciplines and more lessons both
in secondary and preparatory schools to achieve one of its main
objectives which is providing support to students in all parts of the
country and ensuring equal opportunities for all.
Up to now, the disciplines covered in the ADD are eight for
Preparatory School or what is called Second Cycle of Basic
Education and comprise 112 lessons. Nine disciplines are
targeted at Education School and comprise 115 lessons.
As for the ICT Department, which is rather oriented to educa-
tors, it offers its users 11 lessons providing them with tutorials,
training modules, pedagogical scenarios and educational
resources. In addition, the TVS gives Arabic language lessons,
especially for the Tunisian pupils abroad through its Arabic
Language Department (ALD).
In order to make the baccalaureate students’ academic assistance
more effective, the TVS organizes a yearly important online event
starting from the beginning of April: ‘Let’s Get Prepared for the Bac
Together’ is a space reserved for online tutoring with the required
communication tools designed within the TVS website to establish
a direct link between the tutor and the students during the revision
period. Apart from the services offered by the above-mentioned
departments, users can access the Educational Virtual Library and
take advantage of an enormous number of digitalized and evaluated
resources.
In addition to the various free services within the TVS, Edunet
– the official website of the Ministry of Education and Training
– also offers many valuable services to its users, the most impor-
tant ones being the proclamation of the results of national exams,
of professional contests, results of educators’ movement,
announcements of ministerial circulars and reminders. Also, it
hosts disciplinary websites produced by educators.
Towards more professionalism
The INBMI has always had an ambitious perspective and an inno-
vative insight as far as the development of online content for the
TVS is concerned. To be much more professional, it constantly
organizes national training workshops for the benefit of all educa-
tors (TVS users, content developers, online tutors) in parallel with
the content developed by the Multi - Media Unit within the CNP
(National Pedagogic Center) and the private sector. On another
e-Learning through the Tunisian Virtual
School: a success story of the integration
of ICT in education
Faryal Mouria Beji, Chief Executive, INBMI;
Professor Researcher-ENSI, Tunis University;
Head of Artificial Intelligence Laboratory;
Member of Working Group on Internet Governance