Ensure the return to school “as normal as possible”, despite the Covid-19. The back-to-school press conference of Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer was once again dominated on Thursday by the thorny issue of the health protocol.
For this eagerly awaited meeting, the minister endeavored to answer all the questions that still hover over the conditions of return, on September 2, in the classes of 12.4 million students and 866,500 teachers, in the time when the circulation of the Delta variant worried the authorities.
A return to school under scenario 2
“We can be completely serene about the start of the new school year, it will take place, of course, we will encounter difficulties, of course, there will be problems, we put ourselves in a position to manage,” said Jean-Michel Blanquer.
This re-entry must take place under the regime of scenario 2 (out of four) of the health protocol set up by the ministry, which authorizes all students to be received in person. According to these rules, a case of Covid-19 in a classroom in the primary sector results in a shutdown, as in June. In middle and high school, in the event of contamination in a classroom, only students with unvaccinated contact cases will have to isolate themselves for a week.
The minister recalls that 600,000 saliva tests per week will be deployed in the first degree. And targeted tests will be carried out in the second degree “to break the chains of contamination” # Rentree2021 #Bank pic.twitter.com/sHMQaupVHG
– Delphine Bancaud (@ bancaud1) August 26, 2021
“There will inevitably be new measures in the coming times depending on the situation,” warned Jean-Michel Blanquer. These changes can be local. In the West Indies and in the red zones of Guyana, for example, the start of the school year was postponed from September 2 to 13 because of the “serious” health situation there.
Since the announcement of the back-to-school scenario on Sunday, the critical voices of teachers have been heard. For Snuipp-FSU, the first primary school union, “level 2 of the protocol is worrying because it is lightened compared to that of June, when the incidence rate was lower”.
No professor in France should earn “less than 2,000 euros net per month”.
In addition to the health component of the start of the school year, Jean-Michel Blanquer raised the issue of teachers’ salaries. “This five-year period will have been that of the largest budget increase for National Education” and “this translates into purchasing power” of staff, he stressed.
On salary increases, the minister indicates that “the objective is that there is not a single professor in France who earns less than 2,000 euros net per month”. #Bank # Rentree2021 pic.twitter.com/TiI0dRDcbt
– Delphine Bancaud (@ bancaud1) August 26, 2021
A further increase of 245 million euros is planned for 2022. According to the unions received Wednesday evening by the Minister, “bonuses ranging from 57 euros net per month for the youngest to 29 euros for mid-career” have been validated for next year, from this envelope. The minister reiterated his objective that no professor in France earns “less than 2,000 euros net per month”.
Soon the time to take stock
This return marks the home stretch for Jean-Michel Blanquer at the head of National Education at the end of his five-year term, after four years and three months spent in rue de Grenelle, one of the longest courses in history at this time. job.
In his remarks, he returned to some of his emblematic projects (emphasis on reading, writing and arithmetic, creation of the pass culture) and also announced a communication campaign on secularism for the start of the school year.
His reforms, carried out with a bang over the past three years, have alienated part of the teaching staff. “The record of Minister Blanquer according to him will be a school in profound transformation and on the right track.” According to the staff, the results will be a school deeply shaken up and professions in loss of direction where it is necessary to act quickly with top-down instructions which pile up and come up against a real different from the speeches ”, regretted Stéphane Crochet, secretary general. of SE-Unsa.
“I am a social republican very defender of freedoms”, replied this Thursday Jean-Michel Blanquer. “I have a determined character that it took to go through a number of things.” “The presidential campaign will start quickly after the start of the school year and it is imperative that the school is at the heart of the debates”, for her part wished Sophie Vénétitay, the general secretary of Snes-FSU, the first secondary school union.