A boy waits in his school in the center of Tunis on January 24, 2011. Many primary schools remained shut on January 24 despite a government order to re-open after teachers called an "unlimited" strike in protest against the national unity government installed after the end of veteran leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's 23-year rule. AFP PHOTO / MARTIN BUREAU (Photo credit should read MARTIN BUREAU/AFP via Getty Images)

The Ministry of Education decided to dismiss 5 officials of the regional commissioner for education in Sidi Bouzid from their job plans and refer them to the judiciary for their involvement in the manipulation of the assignment file by defrauding the scientific certificates of a number of professors and teachers, according to what was announced by Education Minister Fathi Slaouti on Friday, October 15.

Fathi Slaouti confirmed in a media statement, on the sidelines of the Inauguration of the Seminar for Heads of Units of the Office of School Services in Hammamet, that the investigation is continuing in the aforementioned delegate and a number of other delegates to verify the possibility of violations.

The administrative action by the ministry comes a few days after the disclosure of a fraud operation that included the integration of more than 100 teachers and deputy professors in Sidi Bouzid Governorate, who do not meet the conditions of the right to settle their situations.

Press reports had announced that the Ben Arous Anti-Crime Squad had summoned 102 teachers and deputy professors from Sidi Bouzid to appear before it on suspicion of administrative corruption related to forgery and fraud, including teachers who never started, even though they said they had given classes.

Sources at the Ministry of Education suggested that the beneficiaries of the integration had falsified and deceived certificates stating that they had fulfilled the terms of the settlement, but their names were listed on the platform of those covered by the settlement in violation of the law.

Sources told TAP (Tunisia Africa Agency) that the economic and financial judiciary has undertaken this case, and the Tunisia Africa Agency was unable to obtain clarification on the developments in this file.

The head of the General Syndicate of Secondary Education, Lassaad Yacoubi, had confirmed that it was the Ministry of Education that filed a complaint about this file, but the General Syndicate of Secondary Education had called for an investigation after it suspected fraud and fabrication of documents for a number of deputy teachers who did not provide any teaching classes.

He indicated that the breaches were related to the mismatch between the announced period and the teaching period, in addition to the mismatch of the wage cards with the period spent.