In 1949, following strikes by nationalists aimed at hindering Tunisian students from sitting for their national exams for the baccalaureate, the French authorities also referred to as “The Residence”, closed high schools. Therefore, Tunisian teachers, French volunteers and a few White Fathers, opened the doors of IBLA to young people and organized classes for them, to help them to complete the academic year.The following years, young people continued coming to IBLA to study. This led to the beginning of a standard library designed to meet their needs. The library was then called IBLA library for high school students and it exists up-to-date.
It receives young people from the neighbourhood who come to study every afternoon, individually or in groups. The library bases itself on the Tunisian school
curriculum to choose books and other various study materials and puts them at the disposal of students.
Together with the support of their head teachers, textbooks in French, Arabic and English are made available to students in order to help them not only to make their
research on given subjects, but also to improve their level in the languages mentioned above.
What Students find in the Youth Space:
- a common working room
- small individual rooms
- tutorials in case of need, often on individual basis
- substantial computer equipment
