Aging in sight in the capital?

According to the mayor of Paris, the city had at the start of the 2021 school year, 6,000 fewer schoolchildren in primary and kindergarten than in 2020. To justify this decrease, the town hall evokes the effects of the crisis linked to Covid-19 and teleworking , confirming information from France Info.

While the number of first-level students in the capital has been declining continuously for a decade, this 5% decrease - from 119,000 to 113,000 students - is two to three times greater than that of previous years.

The acceleration of this trend was already notable last year, after the first confinement, with 3,700 fewer students.

"We find both the structural phenomenon of a drop in the birth rate", combined with "the Covid effect and the telework effect" which allows Parisians "to keep their jobs without being forced to come to work every morning", explains Patrick Bloche, education assistant to Anne Hidalgo.

Boroughs more affected than others

Patrick Bloche underlines that this drop of 5% concerns both nursery schools and elementary schools and shows that this exodus affects "many families already established", on the contrary of a greater decrease in nursery schools, a precursor of a decline birth rate.

More dense and lacking in green spaces, the 9th and 10th arrondissements are the most affected by the acceleration of the phenomenon.

Conversely, those benefiting from recent development projects such as the 13th and 17th arrondissements recorded a limited drop in staff numbers, between 2 and 3%.

Out of about 5,500 classes, 63 were closed and 43 opened at the start of the school year, said Patrick Bloche, stressing the “number of closed classes extremely limited compared to the drop in enrollment”.

The average number of students per class increases to 21 in kindergarten and 20 in elementary, "figures that make you dream in other municipalities," said the deputy.

Two kindergartens have closed in the 11th arrondissement, "it was planned for a long time", according to the assistant who sets a threshold of 4 classes to maintain an establishment.

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  • Telework

  • Covid 19

  • Primary school

  • Paris

  • Education

  • Coronavirus

  • Confinement