Reopening of schools on May 11: the concern of unions and associations

“It is anything but serious to reopen schools on May 11”. Emmanuel Macron’s announcement on Monday April 13 to gradually reopen nurseries, schools, colleges and high schools from May 11 did not only make people happy. Many teachers’ unions and associations are concerned about the risk of contamination. “To resume in a month, as if nothing had happened, it is not possible, because there will not be more people immunized, the children will be together at school, without possible barrier gestures, and then go to families, with grandparents, it does not seem at all reasonable”protested in particular Francette Popineau, general secretary of the Snuipp-FSU, the first primary school union, with AFP.

In his televised address, the Head of State said: “Too many children, especially in working-class neighborhoods, in our countryside, are deprived of school without having access to digital technology and cannot be helped in the same way by parents, which is why our children must be able to find their way back to classes. The government will have to set up special rules, organize time and space differently, protect our teachers and our children well with the necessary equipment. developed Emmanuel Macron without giving more details.

“It seems to be in total contradiction with the rest”

A blur that does not please Francette Popineau, worried about the barrier gestures essential to limit the spread of the epidemic. “It is impossible for young children to explain to them that they have to put themselves five feet away from their friends to play, not to touch each other when you are children, not to fight over the ball, she recalls. It is anything but serious to reopen schools on May 11, because we are told that all public places are closed, cinemas, theaters, but not schools, when we know that it is a place of high transmission, high contamination, there is a lack of precaution, it seems to be in total contradiction with the rest”, she declares.

Especially since if Emmanuel Macron insisted on the need for students to return to class quickly, for higher education, classes will not resume “physically not before the summer”. This is why the president’s decision appears to the unions as a strategy to revive the economy more quickly by allowing parents to return to work. The organizations therefore refer to teachers “sacrificed on economy hotel”.

“If we have to return before the summer, that supposes a whole plan to get out of confinement. Test people, disinfect the premises, have masks and hydroalcoholic gel, also ensure that the students are not 35 in the classes”, commented Frédérique Rolet, general secretary of the Snes-FSU (majority secondary union), quoted by Release.

“One month to present the school emergency plan”

For Francette Popineau, if a return to normal conditions on May 11 seems premature, a partial return in June would have been a good idea: “One day, we would have welcomed half of the class, the next day the other half. For some of our students, it would have allowed a moment of breathing room.”

“Without an emergency plan for the school, recovery is impossible without the risk of a new wave of contamination. Stop pretending!”, protests the FCPE, an association of parents of students. For its co-president Rodrigo Arenas, “the government has one month to present the school emergency plan to maintain compliance with barrier gestures at school. Otherwise, the parents risk not returning the children to school if they risk contaminating themselves or contaminating the personnel”, he decides on Twitter.

Resumed on #11may : the government has 1 month to present the school emergency plan to maintain compliance with #BarrierGestures at the#school Otherwise, the parents risk not returning the children to school if they are at risk of contaminating themselves or contaminating the staff. pic.twitter.com/1hD72SGIK3

— Rodrigo Arenas (@arenasfcpe) April 13, 2020

For his part, the Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, wants to be reassuring. On France 2, he announced a “gradual return” with “lots of landscaping”. “We can only imagine small groups (…) It is out of the question to have crowded classes in this situation”, he added on Franceinfo. Furthermore, “not all students will return to school at the same time, he added, implying that the “vocational high schools” could be the first to resume. The terms of the resumption of classes will be fixed in the next two weeks, said the minister.