This Saturday, February 5, the winter holidays begin for schoolchildren, college and high school students in zone B academies. They will be followed in the coming weeks by zones A and C. However, for a few days, on social networks, family photos are already springing up, showing children on the ski slopes or on a beach in the sun. Every year, many French people anticipate the holidays a little. “It’s something that we have seen slowly increase for years,” confirms Didier Georges, national secretary of the organization of school principals, the SNPDEN. But this year, parents have found a new excuse to leave, even if it means missing a few days of school for their children: The Covid-19…
“They are contact cases every other week, when it’s just not the class that closes. A few extra days aren’t going to change much. Emily, a mother of two children in primary school, testifies from a ski resort where the whole family has been on vacation for a week. Like many parents who have “dried off” their children to leave, she justifies their absence by the upheavals suffered by the school for several months due to the epidemic.
“At the moment, they don’t ask for too many supporting documents”
Between class closures, distance learning and protocols that often change, excuses are quickly found a few days before the official holidays. For Gildas, sarcastically, it’s almost in the interest of the teachers: “Today, if you don’t put your children in school, we’ll almost thank you. At the moment, they don’t ask for too many supporting documents. “For other parents like Arnaud, the Covid-19 provided them with another weight: “He taught us how to manage school from a distance, we are no longer afraid of an absence or two”,
Covid-19 as justification for off-season tourism. “It is true that there are a lot of contaminations and unjustified contact cases as the holidays approach, smiles Typhaine, teacher in CM1 in a school in the Reims region. And then it changes from the flu or gastroenteritis. »
More a question of budget
You just have to dig a little bit with the “guilty” parents to understand that the Covid-19 has a good back, as explained by Marion, mother of two children: “It is a question of budget and tranquility in the resort. The same apartment cost triple a week later. »
Eventually, all the parents end up admitting that the virus has a nice head to hat. In addition to the question of finances and therefore of their possibility or not for many, parents also play down these few lost days. They will quickly be caught up and above all, the discovery of another environment is undoubtedly well worth a few lessons according to Julie: “I tell myself that the children learn ten times more on a personal level with a week of skiing. It makes them grow a lot. “Pauline, too, sees an educational interest for her 10-year-old son: “We always visit a European capital. For its culture, it is extremely rich. »
The fear of an “à la carte” school
They assure it however, these parents do not want the teachers to think that the school is neglected. Unfortunately, this is what happens, at least in part. Véronique, a teacher in Essonne, explains: “There is a multiple educational break. One shows one’s children respect relative to school. We give the image of an “à la carte” school. “A mother of young children, she attends the discussions in front of the school gate of the type:” They did not tell you anything? Because we too were hesitating to leave…”
This fear of a drift towards an à la carte school, Didier Georges shares it and already sees it: “We know very well that the goal is not to remove children from school. The interest is economic. The problem is almost not the absence, except for pupils in great difficulty. It’s the idea that it doesn’t matter if the child misses school. There is a devaluation by parents of the added value of the school. »
In addition to the courses and homework to catch up on and the relative disorganization that this can represent in their class, the teachers who testify to 20 minutes all agree on an uninhibited attitude of the parents. When Didier Georges hallucinates in the face of parents who ask him for his written authorization. What deeply irritates Marco, head teacher at the college, is that “the parents don’t even apologize anymore, they come and tell us as if they were announcing at the gym that they were suspending their subscription. Without wondering what was planned at the educational level. His colleague, Arima, makes the same observation. She regrets that the “guilt has flown away” and gets angry with the parents who even allow themselves “to demand lessons and homework in advance”. Annoyed, she knows anyway that the sanctions will not be taken.
Sanctions rarely applied
Contacted by 20 minutes, the Ministry of National Education recalls that pupils’ absences must be justified: “Attendance at the compulsory lessons provided for in their timetable is one of the pupils’ duties. Holidays taken by parents outside the school holidays fixed by the national school calendar do not constitute a legitimate reason for absence. A fine of 135 euros is even provided for this purpose, and it can amount to a fine of 30,000 euros and 2 years in prison if they compromise the education of the child. But professionals in the sector all say it, they have never seen this type of sanction pass.
And the teachers don’t want it either. “It’s still quite exceptional as a situation, explains Maxime, school teacher in Morbihan and leisure is gaining importance in our society, if it can allow some to allow themselves vacations that they could not. otherwise…” He is not resigned for all that: “The vast majority, even those who leave, the parents respect the school, they attach great importance to it with regard to the future of their children. In his class, the rule is simple, lessons and homework will not be provided in advance. And the lessons or the poems will have to be learned at the start of the school year, early holidays or not.