When the SNU moults. This Thursday, Sarah El Haïry unveiled the new system of Universal National Service: a 12-day internship for students in second class, on a voluntary basis. The Secretary of State for Youth also indicated that this cohesion stay would take place during school time. A decision that provoked the ire of the teachers’ unions, received this Thursday rue de Grenelle to discuss the evolution of the SNU.
Emmanuel Macron’s campaign promise, in 2017, this “collective adventure” prompted the government to review its copy, in the face of opposition. 20 minutes comes back to the chronology of this renunciation.
The State launches the SNU in the summer of 2019
After promising a “short, compulsory and universal national service” during his campaign in 2017, Emmanuel Macron is launching. In 2019, he appointed Gabriel Attal, then Secretary of State, to pilot the project. The first edition brings together 2,000 young volunteers aged 15 or 16 for a 12-day cohesion stay. The program is mixed between recreational sports activities and learning or reminders on civic education. The young people wear a uniform, and their accommodation costs are entirely covered by the State. The volunteers are supervised by soldiers, facilitators and educators.
At the time, the system was to be generalized to 800,000 pupils, i.e. an entire age group. Estimated budget: 1.5 billion euros. “I am in the process of building scenarios that will allow us to generalize it perhaps several years before the date of 2026 initially announced”, confides then Gabriel Attal, in the columns of Parisian.
In February 2020, the executive wants to accelerate the generalization
While it was aiming for a generalization of the device in 2026, the government in 2020 is reviewing its calendar… To do it faster. New objective for generalization: 2024. The results of the 2019 experiment are deemed to be “very positive, particularly in terms of social and territorial diversity and mobility, details at the time Gabriel Attal in February 2020 at West France. We have set ourselves the objective of welcoming 100,000 young people on a cohesion stay from next year, then 200,000 in 2022, i.e. one in four 16-year-olds”.
Responses to reviews that point to the cost of the device are brushed aside. “You have to see the UNS as an investment, particularly in the fight against school dropout, against illiteracy and for the professional integration of young people” declared the politician. In 2022, only 32,000 young people took part in the UNS. Among them, a quarter of the participants had someone in their family who had worn the uniform (army, police, etc.).
In April 2023, Macron opens the door to mandatory generalization
The UNS? “You have to go through the law to make it mandatory, but before you have to finalize the consultation. I am in favor of us being able to move forward, ”said Emmanuel Macron in the Parisian, suggesting a gradual generalization, starting only with a few departments. Then, Politicswhich had highlighted cases of sexist and sexual violence during stays, revealed last May the will of the executive to deploy the UNS from the start of the school year in September.
After the contestation of the device in full discontent against the pension reform, the opponents of the SNU express their concerns. “As long as the SNU is voluntary and outside school hours, students and families do what they want. From the moment it concerns school time, it no longer suits us at all, recalls Jean-Rémi Girard, president of Snalc (National union of high schools and colleges), questioned by 20 minutes. The students have programs and courses to follow, the Second year is pivotal… We are not going to have fun making them skip two weeks of lessons for that. »
In June 2023, an officialization of the SNU on school time
Discussions between government and labor organizations have been held to change the form of the UNS. The 12-day cohesion stay is retained, as is the idea of volunteering. But the SNU will now be held during schooling, from March 2024. “This stay will cost nothing to schools or parents. This new modality will coexist with the cohesion stays chosen individually by the young people during their holidays”, detailed Sarah El Haïry in the columns of the Figaro. The Secretary of State also wants to boost the attractiveness of the SNU by offering to obtain bonus points on Parcoursup for volunteers.
“It is again a drop in the number of hours devoted to learning and the questioning of the national framework of the programs, and this, without forgetting the reforms of the high school which weigh on the educational paths and orientation of the pupils. It is also a questioning of the role of the personnel of the National Education just like that of the personnel of Youth and Sports, who are not there to participate in a mock military stay, “denounced the education unions. national and high school organizations, in a statement common which preceded the announcement by a few days.
For the time being left aside, the question of the obligatory nature of the UNS could reappear. ” The debate is open. The question of obligation is not a taboo. But our goal is to create excitement, not coercion,” Sarah El Haïry tried to reassure on Thursday. Last March, a senatorial report expressed its budgetary concerns in the event of generalization of the device, and attributed the slowdown in the deployment of the SNU to “material difficulties encountered during the experiments. »