Classroom of Lycée Simone Veil, in Valbonne on 03/25/2021.

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SYSPEO / SIPA

  • With the new reinforced protocol in the establishments of the nineteen confined departments, since Monday, a single case of Covid-19 in a class has now resulted in its closure.

  • If it is too early to have consolidated figures on the subject, Philippe Vincent, general secretary of Snpden-Unsa (the first union of management staff) is already seeing the effects of the measure in secondary schools.

    And that's only the beginning.

Since Monday, the new health protocol has changed everything in the establishments.

To halt the progress of Covid-19 in the 19 reconfigured departments, the government announced a turn of the screw on Friday, which consists of closing the classes as soon as the first case of contamination is detected.

And its effects are already being felt on the ground.

Philippe Vincent, general secretary of Snpden-Unsa, the first union of management staff, takes stock of this new situation in the establishments.

Have many classes closed since Monday?

The number of students infected with the coronavirus has increased in recent weeks and stood at 21,000 last Friday.

That same day, 3,256 classes were closed in France out of 528,400.

With the new health measures, a very strong increase in class closures is to be expected.

We can expect them to increase four to five times as early as this week.

As of yesterday, this increase in class closures was being felt, but we do not yet have consolidated figures.

They are more numerous in colleges than in high schools, because the latter have adopted the half-gauge.

Are school heads managing the situation?

This new protocol occupies us all day.

It's time consuming and complicated.

The CPEs must note the absences and call the families.

The latter are free to tell them or not if their child is positive for Covid-19.

The heads of establishments then feed the information back to the departmental cells of the rectorates, which decide whether or not to close the class.

Another difficulty in high school: students leave their class to follow certain lessons in half-groups.

The ministry indicates that if a high school student is positive, only his reference class will be closed.

However, many principals have a maximalist interpretation of the instruction and think that if a student is infected, all the groups he has attended should be closed.

Which can blow up the numbers.

Do you see the temptation among some parents to keep silent about the fact that their child is positive for Covid-19?

Yes, they do not have their child tested, who nevertheless has symptoms of the coronavirus, or they do not communicate the result to the establishment, if it is positive.

Perhaps because they are worried that their child will miss too many lessons, or because they don't really want to be disturbed during the day while they telecommute.

Fortunately, however, this behavior concerns a minority of parents.

Are many teachers absent?

It varies greatly from one establishment to another.

But what is certain is that the teachers who are absent for ten days are very often not replaced.

Because the services of the rectorate are overwhelmed and they replace long absences as a priority.

Are you seeing an increase in the exercise of the right of withdrawal by teachers?

Not for the moment, because teachers are driven by their professional conscience and do not want to put their students in more difficulty.

Do you think that establishments can remain open until spring break?

Those in zone B who will be on vacation on April 7, perhaps.

But I have a doubt for zone C, whose holidays start on April 17, given the infection curves in Ile-de-France.

And concerning the holding of exams at the end of the year, it could be threatened.

If this is the case, we must know it by the end of April in order to reorganize ourselves.

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  • Covid 19

  • Coronavirus

  • Society

  • High school

  • Middle School

  • Education