On the Sophia Antipolis campus.

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SYSPEO

  • After the National Education students, the students are gradually returning to college.

  • A special return to school under the sign of the coronavirus and barrier gestures.

  • But for the majority of readers who responded to our call for testimonials, anti-Covid guidelines are struggling to be fully respected in lecture halls.

“The sanitary rules are respected, everyone washes their hands frequently and constantly wears the mask.

Of course, these measures are binding, but understood and applied by all ”.

To read Baptiste, in the first year of communication on the Sophia-Antipolis campus (Alpes-Maritimes), the Covid is not really a problem in this academic year.

At the other end of the country, Mélanie, a student from Lille (North), gives the same impression: "the [sanitary] rules in the buildings are respected".

And the teachers even have something to alleviate the sanitary atmosphere: "Some people make us take breaks more often so that we can go outside to get some fresh air, by moving away from people if we want to remove the mask."

So here we are reassured: despite the physical distancing, the masks, the frost and the face-to-face / distancing lessons, the resumption at the university looks like a long quiet river.

Yes but no.

Because Baptiste and Mélanie are only exceptions among the readers who answered our call for testimonies.

"Back and forth between two rooms"

First problem (there are many) pointed out by students in the management of Covid in higher education institutions: the lack of space.

“This Monday, in English lessons, there were 51 of us in a room with 40 seats,” Justice says, while studying for a master's degree.

Each chair was occupied, and more had to be added in the aisles and near the door.

No social distancing possible ”.

The teacher found a solution, not necessarily ideal: "He ended up putting us in two different rooms and going back and forth between one and the other".

There are efforts, but they seem relative.

“Our teachers have opted for face-to-face lessons, with 350 in lecture halls of 400 that cannot even be ventilated (built without a window),” Eline reports.

Clémentine, she crossed all of Lyon (Rhône) to go to a room supposed to enforce distancing.

Problem: “once there, there was not enough room.

Some were side by side, others seated on the ground.

I have not seen any hydroalcoholic gel dispenser ”, notes the Master 2 student in Histoire-Géo.

"Why are distance courses not favored?

"

And on the side of Modern Letters?

It is "a disaster", simply summarizes André, in Paris-IV.

“The university has organized absolutely nothing to ensure our safety and that of administrative employees: no hydroalcoholic gel available to us, no distribution of masks, no marking on the ground.

Worst of all is the complete lack of social distancing in classrooms and hallways ”.

And when Cristina, at the Sorbonne, evokes a "big mess" and wonders "why distance courses are not privileged?

», Clara, in law in Sceaux (Hauts-de-Seine), speaks about lunch break.

“The canteen is the worst place, there is no distance between us, everything is blocked.

Everyone says hello, it's a disaster ”

Hot shot

A problem of space, therefore, but also of behavior.

Because in addition to being “parked between 100 and 200 in amphitheatres”, Issam, right in front of Nice (Alpes-Maritimes), points the finger at… the administrative staff.

"(He) does not wear the mask at all, whether at the reception or at the licensing office."

From there to making students model students?

Far from it, whether outside, where "everyone meets to discuss or smoke a cigarette," regrets Néjim, where in class.

"Some consider that the Covid is no longer there, or that they simply risk nothing without thinking of those who are around, those who have people at risk in their entourage or quite simply students at risk", also denounces Lucy.

Heard during his lessons: "" I'm too hot with my mask on "," It makes my head spin "," I can't concentrate "..."

A topical “heat” argument given the temperatures this week: “Some rooms are real ovens (large panes exposed to the sun), and staying 4 hours in a row quickly becomes an ordeal,” points out Amélie.

Ask for lessons ... to those you have not met

An ordeal for some, and a puzzle for others.

This is the case with Agathe, who complains about the “absurdity” of certain measures.

"I carpool with a friend (therefore close contact), but (we are) not allowed to sit together (in class)?

Worse for students in a relationship with each other!

And the direction of circulation implies in one place to go down and go up three floors ”.

Eléa adds another layer: “During the TD, we are asked to keep our distance as soon as we arrive.

Fifteen minutes later, the teacher asks that the work be done in a group.

Result: four groups of six students working on the same PC and without any distance ”.

And then there are organizational problems that were difficult to predict.

Clément, in Nantes (Loire-Atlantique), says that his university has chosen to have students alternate between courses on site and at a distance.

But the video lessons didn't work at first.

Hence the solution proposed to the students: catch up with the lessons through the group that was present on site.

The problem: “we don't know each other”.

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