After the announcement last week by the Prime Minister of the end of the wearing of the compulsory mask everywhere except in transport, including at school, college and high school, for all students and staff, the ministry clarified that the health protocol would go “from level 2 to level 1” in schools.

This will involve more mixing between students, who will now be able to mix beyond their grade level, but avoiding large gatherings.

The practice of sport can be done without restriction indoors.

Measures relating to hand washing, ventilation and surface disinfection are maintained.

The ministry recommends in particular, "initially and as far as possible, to limit excessive mixing between class-groups and levels, especially during recreation and restoration times".

A student in a school canteen in Vincennes, in September 2020 Martin BUREAU AFP

In recent days, the teachers' unions have been worried about the management of contact cases in middle and high school, fearing that this will "turn into a gas plant of procedures", explained to AFP the secretary general of the SE- Unsa Stephane Crochet.

In secondary school, where students were not previously considered contact cases if they were vaccinated because they wore the mask, now “all students who shared a class with the confirmed case (common core class, groups of specialties, options, languages, etc. are considered to be risky contacts, without distinction between students who have or have not worn the mask", writes the ministry in the update of the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on its website.

For these contact cases, the ministry strongly recommends "the wearing of the mask indoors for 7 days after the occurrence of the confirmed case".

In primary school, all the students in the class will also remain in contact as before, as well as now the teacher if he is not wearing a mask.

They will have to be tested on D+2.

In middle and high school, unvaccinated students, who must isolate themselves for seven days if they are in contact, will risk being contacted more often, "which could lead to solitary confinement, while there there are educational issues at the end of the year", worries Sophie Vénétitay, general secretary of Snes-FSU, the first secondary school union.

© 2022 AFP