REPORTAGE
It is in the rubble that the third year students of the Versailles college, in Marseille, prepare their certificate. The establishment is being renovated, a situation which angered the students and professors who work there. The college is also assigned to the administrative court, Monday, so that new studies are conducted to find out the precise amount of asbestos. In the meantime, the concern remains, as our correspondent on the spot could see, Nathalie Chevance.
"There are chemicals"
For college students especially, studying in the middle of this project is not easy. "It's hard. I wish we weren't there when they did the work, that's the least of it. What I feel is fear." This cry from the heart is that of Tania, a third year pupil who is preparing for the certificate in the midst of construction cranes, rubble, dust and incessant noise.
In addition, there is the planned demolition of asbestos buildings from the 1960s on already polluted land, as one of the teachers, Cédric, denounces. "The soil studies have been carried out. There are chemicals: Toluene, PCBs, cadmium, lead, arsenic. We fear that doing earthworks will evacuate chemicals that could have been transform into gas and that will scent the air, "says the professor.
"We are not able to offer them a place worthy for them"
The playground, sacrificed, is also paying the price for this site which causes recurring heating and electricity problems, laments Sophie, a member of the teachers' collective. She feels "a great feeling of injustice also in relation to what we make the students live. They are already, in their personal situation, in situations of poverty. The college must be a bit of a refuge where they could find themselves. find some time in pleasant working conditions, and even there we are not able to offer them a place worthy for them, "she laments.
For its part, the department, which invests 24 million euros, ensures that the site is risk-free.