- Since March 16, due to the coronavirus epidemic, some 12.5 million students are taking distance courses due to the closure of schools, colleges and high schools.
- These establishments will reopen “gradually” from May 11, Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday.
- The teaching methods and the number of pupils admitted at the same time in class will be defined by the ministry.
A prospect that delights even students who are not fans of the school. Schools will reopen "gradually" from May 11, Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday. The Minister of Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, meets this Tuesday with the trade union organizations to talk about the sanitary conditions allowing the resumption.
In the meantime, 20 Minutes takes stock of the possible scenarios and the questions that remain unanswered.
Why reopen schools despite the persistence of a risk?
The hypothesis of a resumption of courses in September had been raised. But six months without a class would have had devastating effects on some of the students. Knowing that 5% have already disappeared from radars since confinement, according to the Ministry of Education. And that the risks of dropping out of school are real for certain students from disadvantaged backgrounds. “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. This is why our children must be able to find their way back to school, "said the head of state on Monday.
Some teachers' unions are favorable to returning to class if the sanitary conditions are met. “Because a return to school, even a short one, allows students to meet and teachers to prepare for the start of the school year. By hanging up the students who have moved away during confinement and reassuring those who are worried ”, explains Stéphane Crochet, general secretary of SE-Unsa . In addition, sending the children back to school also means allowing their parents to go back to work, if conditions allow.
Can all schools reopen on May 11?
"Not all schools will be open on Monday, May 11," said Jean-Michel Blanquer on Tuesday on France 2. The reopenings will therefore be gradual, especially since it will first be necessary to disinfect the premises.
Several scenarios are possible: first reopen schools in the areas least affected by the epidemic. Another possibility is to first favor the opening of establishments welcoming pupils most vulnerable to confinement. "We could imagine that those of Rep +, of Rep, the professional high school students where the middle school students of 4th and 3rd who present the biggest risk of dropping out, come back first", launches Frédérique Rolet, secretary general of Snes-Fsu.
Can all students in the same class return to school on May 11?
The gradual recovery "necessarily implies that we will not have the same ages who return at the same time", and "there can not be large groups" in the classes, also said Jean-Michel Blanquer on France 2. As a result, "there may be a lower hourly load" for students. “We can imagine, for example, that at the middle school, the 6th and 5th pupils are welcomed at the start of the week and the 4th and 3rd at the weekend. Or that we welcome some of the students from each class, by organizing a rotation system, ”says Frédérique Rolet.
"To successfully accompany barrier gestures among students, we can think that it will take groups of 5 students around a teacher in kindergarten, 10 in primary and half-classes in middle school", specifies Stéphane Crochet . The question of boarding students also arises: "We can imagine bringing them in every other week, for example", continues the trade unionist.
How will barrier gestures be respected?
"We are going to develop a whole methodology" of recovery "which necessarily involves very large developments," said Jean-Michel Blanquer. Respect for barrier gestures will be possible thanks to training in "very small groups".
Asked whether masks would be made available to all students and teachers, the minister assured that it is "very possible, but that is one of the things that we will decide over the next two weeks". "We must draw inspiration from current practices in schools that welcome the children of caregivers," insists Stéphane Crochet.
Will all the teachers be on deck?
Teacher unions are concerned about the conditions for recovery. “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, of high contamination. There is a lack of precaution, that seems to be in total contradiction with the rest, reacted Monday Francette Popineau, secretary general of Snuipp-FSU. If the department cannot reassure them, some of them may decide to exercise their right of withdrawal.
Another concern: teachers with co-morbidities. “The CHSCT has listed the pathologies that make certain people at risk. They will not be able to come back to the students in May, ”says Frédérique Rolet. As a result, not all disciplines could be taught: “Are we going to focus on teaching only some? Will the other teachers provide support, as is already the case for the "homework done" scheme? "Wonders Frédérique Rolet.
What will be the content of the lessons?
It is impossible to imagine going back to school like at the beginning of March. “We cannot advance in the programs and there is no question of marking the students. Rather, it will be necessary to make revisions, to give methodological advice to the pupils… ”, considers Frédérique Rolet. "We will have to assess the level of the students, to take stock of those who dropped out the most during confinement," adds Stéphane Crochet.
Jean-Michel Blanquer for his part spoke of a “personalization of the routes”. The work that will be done in class will be supplemented by distance education at home. "We will not find a normal class rhythm, but the face-to-face lessons will aim to support educational continuity", believes Stéphane Crochet.
How will parents of students react?
One thing seems certain: not all parents will want to send their children back to school, fearing that they may be contaminated with Covid-19. They shouldn't have to. "Those who are diabetic and asthmatic will undoubtedly tend to keep their children at home", thinks Stéphane Crochet.
The fact remains that according to Frédéric Adnet, head of emergency at the Avicenne hospital in Bobigny, interviewed by France Bleu, "if young children become sick, it is young parents that they will contaminate. […] We have had no mortality below 40 years at the AP-HP. So even if the virus continues to affect people, as long as they are not at risk, there is no public health problem, "he said.
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