• Jean Castex announced on Monday that the protocol in primary schools was going to be upgraded to level 3. This essentially means that wearing a mask becomes compulsory outside, the limitation of brewing is reinforced in the canteen and physical activities are limited in interior.

  • Kindergarten and elementary school classes still do not close from the first case of Covid-19, but only after three positive cases.

    A measure however criticized by teachers.

It is impossible to maintain the 

status quo

regarding the Covid-19 epidemic, which is blazing across the whole of the country and affecting many children. To make matters worse, the spread of the Omicron variant, possibly more contagious, weighs like a sword of Damocles. This Monday evening, the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, announced a strengthening of the health protocol at the primary school, which will go from level 2 to 3.

Which implies some changes: the wearing of the mask becomes obligatory, including outside, for the pupils as well as for the personnel and this, from next Thursday.

A limitation of the mixing of students in the canteen (meals will be taken by level and by class) is also planned from next Monday, time for local authorities to organize themselves.

Physical and sporting activities remain authorized outdoors, as well as indoors, but only for low-intensity activities compatible with wearing a mask and the rules of distancing.

"There is no longer an untouched region"

A turn of the screw which is explained by the deterioration of the health situation in the schools. According to the Ministry of Education, 4,578 classes (or 0.9% of the total) were closed last week due to Covid-19. It's half as much as the week before. But this drop is artificial since the protocol had already changed at the end of November: there is no longer a class closure from the first case detected in a student, and only those who test positive are isolated. Children with contact cases can return to class upon presentation of a negative screening result. On this point, nothing changes with the level 3 protocol. "We will maintain our policy of systematic screening of all students if there is a positive case in the class and of closing the class after three positive cases" , said Jean Castex.

However, in the field, teachers and school directors are tearing their hair out. “It's the big lottery. For example, I sent students to be tested twice last week because of positive cases ”, tells

20 Minutes 

Benjamin Grandener, co-secretary of SNUipp-FSU in the Rhône. "There is no longer any spared region, there are positive cases every week and the students are absent in turn," adds Stéphane Crochet, secretary general of SE-Unsa. The management of contact cases is also complex and time-consuming: it is normally the school principal who is responsible for calling the families to ask them to have the children tested. “But often, we share the work. And when we learn that a student is positive during the day, teachers often have to interrupt the class to urgently notify parents. Sometimes, we have to have the children have lunch there, so we bring them their meal trays in class so that they avoid seeing other children in the canteen, ”explains Benjamin Grandener.

"A child tested negative on Tuesday can be positive on Thursday"

It is not easy either to make parents understand the rules: “Some families ask a lot of questions. They did not understand that the appearance of three cases among the students led to the closure of the class for 7 days, ”notes Stéphane Crochet. “As the incubation period of the disease is not taken into account by the protocol, a child who tests negative on Tuesday can be positive on Thursday. So the families do not understand that he was sent back to school in the meantime, ”adds Benjamin Grandener. Some parents also testify to their difficulty in finding a niche in the laboratory to have their children tested: "It would be better to suspend the class and give families 24 or 48 hours to give them more time", estimates Stéphane Crochet.

Another concern according to the teachers' unions: the lack of substitute teachers.

“Every week, teachers are sick, with coronavirus and other illnesses.

In the Rhône, for example, there are no more replacements available.

So we are forced to divide the students among us, which is not at all recommended in an epidemic period, ”emphasizes Benjamin Grandener.

Difficult to follow the program

In the end, all these instabilities lead to weeks in Gruyère for the students and their teachers. This has an impact on the pedagogical aspects: “School teachers have lost visibility. With a quarter or a third of students under certain days, they do not know if they can advance in the program or prefer the revisions ”, indicates Stéphane Crochet. "The students' paths are so erratic that they have not picked up a good pace of work and that we are obliged to individualize the learning objectives", adds Benjamin Grandener.

And as in previous epidemic peaks, students who are confined to their homes receive homework on their work environment.

“But this time, parents no longer benefit from partial unemployment and must telework.

They don't have time to support their children's schoolwork for hours on end, ”emphasizes Stéphane Crochet.

The new health rules announced on Monday do not provide for any device to make life easier for parents.

But the government is encouraging companies to develop teleworking in the coming weeks ...

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