Faced with the health crisis, students remain mobilized
Audio 02:33
Student demonstration organized in Toulouse, January 21, 2021. The first student union, La Fage, calls for a new mobilization on Tuesday January 26 to demand even more measures to fight against precariousness and a wider reopening of universities.
© AFP / Georges Gobet
By: Laurence Théault
7 min
Two meals at one euro for all students, return to class once a week: after the president's announcements, the unions welcome progress, but ask for permanent and immediate financial aid for students in great precariousness.
The students therefore remain mobilized.
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Rémy, a literature student, kicks the curb lightly.
The gradual return of all face-to-face students once a week provides a little hope, because so far it feels like a false start.
False start in studies, false start to forge links.
In short, a false start in this new life which is closed to everything a young person hopes for.
“
It's just a never-ending fall.
I'm 18, just arrived at college.
I discover this world and I arrive directly at a distance.
You just have to see all the people I frequented: they have all given up, all have dropped out,
”laments Rémy.
Josephine, for her part, has made a skinny cigarette that she will smoke later.
The young woman suffers from isolation
, she needs to be in front of a teacher, that is to say, a voice, a tone, a body.
“
This word is embodied.
In video, there is such a distance.
We need a certain atmosphere.
Already the fact of getting up in the morning, having a certain rhythm, being able to talk with the teacher.
This atmosphere is essential in fact,
”says Joséphine.
►Also read: the suffering of students, again and again in distance learning
A return to universities under conditions
Felt-tip pen in hand, Maëlys is studying on a bench, Place de la Sorbonne.
A student in a preparatory biology class, she benefits from face-to-face lessons.
"
We need to exchange and if we want to progress, I think we need a helping hand, we need to want to do it and it's the teacher who gives us that desire- there, but also the other students around us, because we all want to progress together.
This cannot be done in front of the screens,
”explains Maëlys.
For these young people,
the face-to-face return is possible
.
One day a week is too little when you know that high schools are open.
This is what they are asking for: "
A face-to-face return to university with of course adapted sanitary measures, class divisions: everything possible for at the same time, a return to class which would allow students to have human contact, and health measures that would allow it to be done while respecting barrier gestures
, ”says Raphaël, a student at Sciences Po.
Psychological distress and financial insecurity
The psy check which allows a student to consult a psychologist or psychiatrist is appreciated.
Universities are sorely lacking.
For, Inès in master's of history, “
we see it in recent weeks, we have had several suicides and suicide attempts.
We are all in situations where it becomes really very difficult.
"
► To read also: Emmanuel Macron responds to the distress of French students
Insecurity is a major concern, the one euro meal that already existed for scholarship holders will be extended to all students.
This measure is considered insufficient and difficult to implement since many university restaurants are closed.
“
Fortunately, in a whole bunch of universities, there are either trade unions or associations which try to maintain a network, a contact, to help, to distribute meals.
Fortunately, it exists!
Exclaims Barthélémy, a history student at Nanterre.
Unions welcome progress, but demand immediate financial assistance for all students.
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