A controversy in education is a bit like a foam ball in the primary school playground. Even when you think it’s out of order, it always ends up bouncing back a little more. Especially for a summit meeting at lunch break. Newly appointed head of National Education, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra met on Tuesday at the Littré elementary school, in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. AOC sent her eldest son to school there for six months, before opting for Stanislas, a private establishment whose methods were highlighted by Mediapart. To justify her choice, the former tennis champion had put forward “the packets of hours not seriously replaced”.
Four days later, the double-hatted minister (National Education and Sports and Olympic Games) tried to give back to Littré what she had already started in less than a week: credit. In front of the school gates, Laurent waits for his daughter in CM2 for the lunch break. If he believes that Amélie Oudéa-Castéra has denounced a “reality”, he believes “that it is clumsy to do like that”. “In Littré, there are very often replacements to make up for absences. For me, she cracked,” breathes the father of the family.
“Go back to the private sector, you have nothing to do here”
The day after an open letter denouncing the ministerial comments, a parents’ association, APEI Littré, would like to end the controversy. “We must move on and move forward on the subjects of National Education, with or without it, ideally with a minister entirely dedicated to Education”, believes Oneida de Liedekerke, parent of a student member of the association contacted by 20 minutes. But, ahead of Littré on Tuesday morning, this is not the time for relations to relax.
Coming to speak with the teachers, the minister was received with invectives and whistles when she got out of the car, in front of around sixty journalists present. “It’s contempt and lies, it’s unbearable,” judges Nadine, 65, a former school principal and union member at SNUipp-FSU, while a small group of protesters shouts in front of the school. I think the damage is done, but she really comes to apologize. »
“Go back to the private sector, you have nothing to do here,” shouts Yvan, convinced that the minister has caught his eye. Bicycle helmet in his left hand, vape in the other, this school teacher replacing in the 11th, does not lose his temper. “For me, she must resign and we must change the policy pursued in seven years of macronism,” maintains the fifty-year-old, a union member at Force Ouvrière.
Apologies from the minister, not enough for the unions
Co-general secretary of the SNUipp-FSU union, Blandine Turki denounced the comments of the former general director of the French tennis federation, who according to her “used the lack of current resources by referring to an old era”. Before undergoing an identity check at the end of his interview.
Filtered access to the entrance to the school, a pack of journalists, a few incredulous passers-by, a handful of curious people… As soon as the minister rushed into the establishment, the atmosphere was summed up like that. A little over an hour later, AOC assured that she had presented “apologies” to Littré teachers. The minister felt that she “owed” this “apology” for having “hurt” the teachers. “What she did not measure is that she owes an apology to the entire educational community, not just to the teachers of Littré,” says Guislaine David, Co-Secretary General and spokesperson for SNUipp -FSU.
“If I said what the minister said tomorrow, the teachers’ unions would automatically fall on me. So when it comes from the Minister of Education, it’s quite confusing. We have the impression that the minister expressed herself as an inexperienced parent, not aware of the problem of teachers not being replaced,” says Emmanuel Garot, spokesperson for Peep, a federation of parents.
The Snes-FSU, Force Ouvrière, CGT Éduc’Action, Education Sud Solidaires and Force Ouvrière had launched a call for a united strike on February 1, before the controversy. Watchword ? Demand better working conditions and higher pay. “We feel real anger on the ground, it has not subsided, and it could crystallize after the minister’s declarations,” warns Guislaine David. This morning, it just put a chip back into the machine. »