President Saied's words fail to calm anger after fatal school collapse

A tragic wall collapse at a secondary school in Mazouna, central Tunisia, has sparked outrage and mourning across the country, exposing deep-rooted issues of infrastructure neglect and government inaction. 

Three high school students, aged 18 to 19, were killed and several others injured on Monday when a section of a wall collapsed inside their school, according to the Civil Protection Department.

The incident triggered immediate public demonstrations in Mazouna, a marginalized town in the Sidi Bouzid governorate. 

Protesters gathered outside a local National Guard post, burning tires and chanting slogans demanding justice and accountability. “We have no jobs, no protection, nothing at all! Mazouna is forgotten,” one woman shouted in a widely shared video.

This tragedy has brought simmering frustrations to the surface. Locals accuse authorities of abandoning their town and ignoring the dire state of public infrastructure. “We will not stay silent,” demonstrators vowed, facing off against police officers deployed to calm tensions.

In response, the powerful UGTT trade union called for a national school strike on Tuesday, both to honor the victims and to protest what it described as “the authorities’ repeated failure to seriously address the collapse of the public education system.”

President Kais Saied issued a statement offering condolences and promising accountability, instructing that "anyone who failed in their duty must be held responsible." He also called for accelerated maintenance work across public schools to prevent further disasters.

But for many Tunisians, Saied's words ring hollow. Critics point out that promises of reform have repeatedly been made and broken, while the education system continues to crumble due to underinvestment and mismanagement.

The Mazouna school collapse has become a symbol of broader systemic failure, in a country already reeling from economic hardship and political paralysis. 

As mourning families bury their children, the calls for justice and reform are growing louder — and the government's credibility is once again on the line.