do not inquire about a person's personal beliefs. The bulk of Tunisians belong to the Maliki school of Sunni Islam, and their mosques are easily recognizable by square minarets. However, the Turks brought with them the teaching of the Hanafi school during Ottoman rule, which still survives among families of Turkish descent today; their mosques traditionally have octagonal minarets. Sunnis form the majority, with non-denominational Muslims being the second largest group of Muslims, followed by Ibadite Amazighs. Prior to independence, Tunisia was home to more than 250,000 Christians (mostly of Italian and Maltese ancestry). Many Christian Italian settlers left to Italy or France after independence from France. Today, Tunisia's sizable Christian community of around >35,000 adherents is composed mainly of Catholics (22,000), and to a lesser degree Protestants. Berber Christians continued to live in some Nefzaoua villages up until the early 15th century, and the community of Tunisian Christians existed in the town of Tozeur up to the 18th century. The International Religious Freedom Report for 2007 estimates that thousands of Tunisian Muslims have converted to Christianity. Judaism is the third largest religion, with between 1,000 and 1,400 members. One third of the Jewish population lives in and around the capital. The remainder lives on the island of Djerba with 39 synagogues where the Jewish community dates back 2,600 years, in Sfax, and in Hammam-Lif. Djerba, an island in the Gulf of Gabès, is home to El Ghriba synagogue, which is one of the oldest synagogues in the world and the oldest continuously used. Many Jews consider it a pilgrimage site, with celebrations taking place there once a year due to its age and the legend that the synagogue was built using stones from Solomon's temple. Although anti-Semitic violence has been reported, Tunisia and Morocco are said to be the Arab countries most accepting of their Jewish populations. Education The total adult literacy rate in 2008 was 78% and this rate goes up to 97.3% when considering only people from 15 to 24 years old. Education is given a high priority and accounts for 6% of GNP. A basic education for children between the ages of 6 and 16 has been compulsory since 1991. Tunisia ranked 17th in the category of "quality of the [higher] educational system" and 21st in the category of "quality of primary education" in The Global Competitiveness Report 2008–09, released by the World Economic Forum. While