REPORTAGE
"There are more risks in staying at home than going to school," said Minister of National Education Jean-Michel Blanquer on Monday morning at the microphone of Europe 1. While 86% of schools must accommodate Tuesday more than a million and a half of kindergarten and elementary school students, teachers are working to make this sentence a truth, against a background of concern. This is particularly the case at the Salengro nursery school in Orchies, in the North, where the teachers of the schools received a visit on Monday from an association of health professionals to learn good practices.
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A mask wearing course for teachers
Beyond the provision of student offices, a key element in school health protocols, advice to teachers begins with the wearing of a mask. "Above the nose and below the chin," says Caroline to these teachers, who have become pupils again, during their pre-school year. "Once in place you don't touch it anymore! And if you've used it for less than 45 minutes, you can put it back on, without ever touching anything other than the straps."
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"We must not fall into psychosis either"
But in this nursery school where the big sections will come back on Tuesday, it is the difficulty in imposing barrier gestures on children that worries most. "Do you have any advice?" Asked a teacher to one of the association's doctors. "We must not fall into psychosis either," he replied. "Above all, I think we should focus on hand washing with children." For his part, Doctor Sylvain Duriez presses on a more psychological message: "We must be careful with barrier gestures, but above all we must keep this benevolence with children to be able to reassure them, support them, and not stress them."
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"What worries us most is the anxiety of our little ones"
Teachers with a mask, change of place in classes, recreation by group or even canteen adapted to barrier gestures ... All the habits of the students will be turned upside down. "What anguishes us the most is the anguish of our little ones", breathes at the microphone of Europe 1 Stéphanie Lemagnent, the director of the school. "How are they going to react with our masks and the rest of the device?" She wonders. Before saying: "We will do everything to support them and secure them emotionally."
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Once the school year has passed, the association's health professionals who have come to provide advice to teachers will come back in the coming days to do the same, but this time with the parents of the students. Perhaps thus the sentence of Jean-Michel Blanquer will be false, the risk becoming minimal both at school and at home.