Are parents of elementary school students to blame for the upsurge in Covid-19 cases at school? This is what the Minister of National Education suggested during his
passage on Franceinfo, Thursday December 16.
As he was reminded the recommendation of the Scientific Council to “generalize the tests [salivaires] once a week at school “, Jean-Michel Blanquer referred to the two” experiments “launched by his ministry in recent months, before adding:” Until today, and still today, […] we offer 400,000 saliva tests every week in elementary school. We only do 200,000 out of the 400,000 we offer because we only have 50% parent acceptance. “
“So the type of experiment proposed, [qui fait que] it is at school that things happen, inevitably comes up against a not insignificant percentage of parents who do not want it to be done at school, ”the Minister concluded.
FAKE OFF
Contacted by 20 minutes, National Education indicates that the number of saliva tests on which the minister relies “is communicated every Friday as part of a situation update”, from “feedback from academies”.
Thereby, according to the latest report, covering the week of November 29 to December 6, 470,841 tests had been offered to “students and staff” – not only, therefore, to schoolchildren – and 241,583 tests carried out in total.
A ratio comparable to the results of previous weeks: 434,816 tests proposed for 227,717 carried out between November 22 and 29, 377. 411 tests proposed for 190.487 carried out
between November 15 and 22, or 307,804 tests proposed for 141,686 carried out
between November 8 and 15 (with a public holiday).
“A lack of equipment and personnel to test”
However, is the acceptance rate of the tests put forward by the Minister explained solely by the refusal of the parents of the students? “As authorization is requested from parents, children must provide them with the form and then bring it back to school, which often poses practical difficulties: either the child leaves it in his satchel and forgets it, or he gives but his parents are overwhelmed and say to themselves that they will fill it out but not right away… And, sometimes, the parents don’t fill it out because they don’t have time to think about the question ”, explains Guislaine David, co-secretary general and spokesperson for the SNUipp-FSU teachers’ union.
“All this makes the return of the form very long. Sometimes the tests [des élèves dont les parents ont accepté] take place when all the parents have not had time to answer, “she continues, stressing, according to feedback from the field, that” there are also parents who do not want to test their child lest it be positive and therefore kept at home for seven days ”.
For Laurent Zameczkowski, vice-president of the Federation of Parents of Public Education Students (Peep), “it is unacceptable that [Jean-Michel Blanquer] discards on parents when there is a lack of materials and personnel to test. “
An initial objective of 600,000 tests per week
“Initially, the minister announced 600,000 tests per week [un objectif encore mentionné sur le site du ministère], so there is already a problem! Yes, some parents refuse the tests, and the administrative burden – since it is also necessary to provide a photocopy of his vital card -, can explain this reluctance. But to assert that 50% of refusals come from parents is totally false, we are very far from this percentage, ”adds the vice-president of Peep.
Like him, Guislaine David believes that Jean-Michel Blanquer is wrong to “lay the blame on the parents”: “There has never been a communication campaign on the value of saliva tests at school! We have been calling for this measure from the start because we know that such prevention initiatives work well for some parents. “