The Félix-Pyat school, here in 2011 - P. Magnien / 20Minutes

  • The Félix-Pyat school, located in an impoverished district of Marseille, will not open its doors on Tuesday.
  • According to the Ministry of Education and the town hall, this closure is simply linked to a lack of child volunteers to return to class.
  • According to several sources, parents fear for the health of their children, while the nearby demolition site, carried out under conditions of safety that worry the authorities, could expose schoolchildren to asbestos.

This Tuesday marks the return to class for hundreds of Marseille schoolchildren. But in Félix-Pyat, a disadvantaged district of Marseille, in the very poor third district, the school doors will remain closed, "for lack of any voluntary registration of children", according to a press release from the town hall. "Following a survey of parents, no student is volunteering to resume school this week," we abound on the side of the rectorate.

How to explain such desertion? According to several sources, the parents are not so much afraid of the coronavirus as of the risk of asbestos contamination after the nearby demolition of several buildings, led by Soleam, the local equipment and development company, led by the deputy mayor Gérard Chenoz. Begun to everyone's surprise at the beginning of April, in full containment period, these works, initially planned for summer 2019, created clouds of dust, which, among other things, settled on the Félix school -Pyat.

"We are afraid of coronavirus and asbestos"

"We are afraid of the coronavirus and asbestos," explains Jérémy Enaut, parent delegate of the Félix-Pyat school. It's a bit like choosing between plague and cholera. To limit the risk of spreading coronavirus, open windows. To protect yourself from asbestos dust from the building site next door, it must be closed. So either we die from Covid-19 now, or asbestos in ten years. You cannot combine the risk of coronavirus and the risk of asbestos. We may be poor in Félix-Pyat, but we are not poor in spirit! "

Asked about this risk of contamination of the school with asbestos, neither the city hall of Marseille, nor the National Education officially correlate the work nearby and the closure of the school. Behind the scenes, however, the authorities would ask teachers to be very careful.

Back to school prohibited

“We were forbidden by the academic inspectorate to go to school Monday and Tuesday, says Mireille Bouroubi, teacher at the Félix-Pyat school and union representative for Sud Education 13. We were asked instead to do a pre-entry on Thursday, for a return of the students next week. We have not had the asbestos diagnosis of one of the demolished buildings. So, obviously we have no students, since the parents are afraid of asbestos! They were confined to several in small apartments, they have only one desire, it is to get out! "

"For May 11, the teachers had a small volume of children ready to return to class," says Cathy Racon-Bouzon, LREM MP for Marseille. But we had to call the parents one by one to tell them to wait until the situation with regard to asbestos changes, and that the start of the school year was on stand-by. This situation is very annoying, because it adds distrust to distrust, and it takes school children away from priority neighborhoods who are dropping out of school. "

It must be said that the site seems to have taken place under questionable safety conditions for residents and workers, potentially exposed to asbestos. Seized by the association Avale 13 which defends victims of asbestos, the Southeastern Pension and Health Insurance Fund (Carsat) even put a stop to the construction site last week, shortly after his visit places, according to several concordant sources. A meeting between Soleam and Carsat on this issue is scheduled for Wednesday according to our information. When contacted, Soleam indicated that it was waiting for this meeting to be able to answer our questions.

Justice

Marseille: The court dismisses the existence of a serious danger to health and orders the continuation of work at the Versailles college

Society

Marseilles: Asbestos removal from Versailles College continues without the judge's decision

  • Marseille
  • Covid 19
  • Coronavirus
  • Deconfinement
  • Asbestos