How will the tests of pupils in primary school be organized?

• On the sidelines of the measures to fight against the fifth wave of Covid-19 announced by Olivier Véran, Jean-Michel Blanquer detailed the adaptation of the health protocol at primary school Thursday noon.

• Instead of closing a class as soon as a positive case is detected, all the students should be tested.

  Only those who present a negative test will be able to return to class.

• During the announcement, the minister left in doubt as to the exact entry into force of this new device.

  The responsibility for having these tests carried out is also unclear, resting as much on the school as on the parents.

On the sidelines of several measures announced by Olivier Véran to stem the fifth wave of the coronavirus epidemic, Jean-Michel Blanquer spoke this Thursday at noon.

The Minister of National Education indicated that the rule of "one positive case = closed class" in primary education would be replaced by tests for the whole class, only negative pupils then being kept in isolation.

tells you everything about how this new measure works.

When will this measure be implemented?

The services of the ministry told

a gradual implementation of the device in the course of next week, with the objective of an effective generalization on December 6.

"The rules will be specified at the beginning of the week, to give the establishments time to organize themselves", one indicates.

It should be noted that since mid-October ten departments have already been experimenting with systematic screening in the classroom as soon as a student tests positive for the coronavirus: Aisne, Ariège, Côte-d'Or, Landes, Manche, Morbihan, Moselle, Rhône, Val-d'Oise and Var.

If precise data on the impact of this device will not be available until next week, he has visibly convinced the government to adopt it.

Who should have the students tested?

Jean-Michel Blanquer was vague on this point during the press conference, first referring to testing campaigns in schools, before pointing to the responsibility of parents. “Both are possible”, indicates the ministry, and it is especially the reality on the ground which will speak “on a case by case basis”. Clearly, in areas where "the capacity of the laboratories allows it", the latter will come to the school to test the whole class. But if they do not “have the capacity to deliver results quickly,” the responsibility will fall on the parents.

This point particularly annoys the unions, who anticipate the organizational problems that this implies.

"It is not always easy depending on the working hours and the time at which the student returns", warns Catherine Nave-Bekhti, general secretary of Sgen-CDFT.

In the Paris region, "past the ring road, it's hard to do a PCR test without an appointment," she adds.

All the more so with the other measures announced by Olivier Véran, in particular the passage of the validity of the PCR test for a health pass from 72 to 24 hours, “it is a safe bet that the number of tests in the general population will increase, ”notes the trade unionist.

This will further reduce the capacity of laboratories to screen entire classes.

What type of test will be valid?

Here again, the ministry wants to give itself time to give details, but indicates that it will be necessary to present the result of a test "either PCR or antigen".

"We ask that it be only PCR tests, because there are many false negatives with the antigenic tests", assures Catherine Nave-Bekhti.

In all cases, Jean-Michel Blanquer recalled that the tests were "free for minors".

How will the return to class be organized after the discovery of a positive case?

When a positive case among the students is confirmed, "the class will be closed, and the students will come back as soon as they have the result of their test," said the ministry.

If the test is the responsibility of the parents, then all the students may not come back at the same time.

Unless, in the details to come next week, the schools coordinate the return to class.

In the short term, classes would thus always be closed to the first confirmed case if the laboratories are unable to carry out the tests quickly enough.

The rule of "one case = closed class" was also always applied locally when the test campaign could not be organized by the school, and the SNUipp-FSU notes that 179 classes were closed in the Rhône, test department, Wednesday.

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Coronavirus: Vaccination reminder, health pass, school protocol… Most of Olivier Véran's announcements

• Jean-Michel Blanquer

• Screening

• Covid 19

• Parents

• Coronavirus

• Health

• Primary school

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