Louise Sallé and Benjamin Peter, edited by Solène Delinger 6:11 am, January 13, 2022

The mobilization against the school health protocol promises to be massive.

The unions estimate the number of striking teachers at 75%, which would lead to the closure of half of the schools.

Heads of establishments and academic inspectors are also mobilizing, making this social movement historic and unprecedented in its scope. 

A massive and unprecedented mobilization.

This Thursday, a large majority of educational staff goes on strike to denounce "unmanageable" and "ineffective" health rules at school.

The unions estimate the number of striking teachers at 75% and the heads of establishments and academic inspectors also intend to express their dissatisfaction. 

The academic inspectors and heads of establishments concerned

The strike against the health protocol in schools promises to be particularly followed.

75% of teachers would be mobilized and half of the schools closed, according to the SNUipp union.

The Federation of Parents of Students (FCPE) even called on families to give up bringing their children to school this morning. 

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A dozen primary and secondary unions denounce the government's mismanagement of the health crisis.

This mobilization is historic since it does not only concern teaching organizations.

Academic inspectors and heads of establishments are indeed also very numerous to strike.

Eric Nicollet, national education inspector in Lyon and secretary general of the SUI FSU, will express his dissatisfaction. 

"The students will suffer"

For him, the dogma of keeping the school open comes at the expense of the students. "The school is open, but the classes are empty. We have a loss of class hours which is really very important. Those who will suffer even more are the students who are already in difficulty and who could not have the quality education that they could have had if we had had a simpler protocol, "he laments at the microphone of Europe 1. 

Thierry Pajot, union of school directors, makes the same observation. He has been running a school in Nice for 25 years and is going on strike today for the first time. "The last time my 28 students were in my class, we were on October 12. We were working slowly and it's difficult this year to learn," he explains. He would like the government to clearly assume this strategy of circulating the virus in schools but that, in return, staff are better protected with FFP2 masks and CO2 sensors. 

For Sophie Vénétitay, general secretary of the SNES-FSU middle and high school teachers' union, this union is unprecedented.

"It's almost unheard of in the past fifteen to twenty years," she observes.

All this educational staff demands explanations from the Minister of Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer.

Lack of FFP2 masks

In particular, they want to understand why the health protocol has been changed three times in eight days and why the minister clarified these new rules in the media before detailing them to the teaching staff.

Finally, they criticize the Minister for not having provided the establishments with protective equipment.

Karim Bacha, school principal in Seine-Saint-Denis, deplores the lack of CO2 sensors, FFP2 masks and air purifiers.

"These are things that have been requested for a long time," he regrets.

"We have the impression that we are handling the situation as if the virus had arrived two months ago."

Finally, the teachers still do not have surgical masks.

Prime Minister Jean Castex has promised to deliver it before the end of January.