REPORTAGE
The advice is hammered all day long: to fight against the spread of the coronavirus, you have to wash your hands regularly. But in schools, the lack of cleanliness prevents compliance with these basic hygiene instructions. The Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer himself acknowledged that the sanitary facilities were not "at the level" in the school environment on Tuesday on LCI. A finding shared by both students and teachers, as Europe 1 was able to see in a college in the 15th arrondissement of Paris.
"There was never any soap"
"There has never been any soap. It is really since today that soap dispensers have been installed in the toilets." It took an epidemic of coronavirus for Anthonia and her friends to rediscover the soap in the sanitary facilities of their college.
Despite this measure, the third year students still point the finger at hygiene in the toilets of their establishment. "There are toilets that are blocked, garbage everywhere. And the garbage cans, too. It's a disaster!" Exclaims a young girl. "The bins overflow, they are not emptied". "We don't have garbage cans, we have nothing, no papers and the toilets, they don't wash them," protested another student.
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A finding that dates back more than 10 years
A finding shared by Francette Popineau, the general secretary of Snuipp, the first primary union. The lack of hygiene in schools had already been deplored during the H1N1 flu epidemic 10 years ago. Except that since then, the situation has hardly changed.
"Communities really need to have a protocol to follow immediately, so that in the event of an epidemic they know immediately that they have to provide schools with disposable soap and towels," says Francette Popineau. In 2017, the National Council for the Evaluation of the School System (Cnesco) pointed out that in 72% of middle schools, school leaders had been questioned about the deterioration in the toilets, and 62% about the supply of hygienic products (paper , soap ...).