"We are going to implement a reform of the 6th grade class, which involves two very important things in particular. The first is the creation of a weekly hour of reinforcement or deepening in French or mathematics, in small groups, depending on the level of the students," said Pap Ndiaye on BFMTV.

"This one hour per week teaching will be provided by school teachers, who come from elementary school," he added.

Pap Ndiaye stressed that this measure would allow "better stapling between primary and secondary".

"It is of course very new in National Education to involve school teachers (...) in college," he said.

Each student will benefit from this weekly hour, the ministry said in a statement.

It is notably inspired by a "6th springboard" device tested this year in several colleges of the Amiens academy, where school teachers will help 6th graders in difficulty.

Second measure for the 6th, Pap Ndiaye announced that "Duties done" would be made compulsory there.

Set up in 2017, this system, which allows students to do their homework in college, aims to lighten school work to counter inequalities at home, for those who wish.

The college "is the priority, because we have evaluations at the start of 6th grade which are problematic", explained Pap Ndiaye.

On entering 6th grade, 27% of students do not have the expected level in French and nearly a third in mathematics, according to the results of the latest national assessments published by the ministry.

Faced with this observation, the minister also announced measures on Wednesday for the classes of CM1 and CM2, "relating to classic things, dictation, conjugation" in particular.

Pedagogical recommendations will be sent to teachers of CM1 and CM2 and inspectors from this month of January, concerning the regular practice of dictation, the daily practice of writing or the regularity of mental calculation, specifies the press release.

In addition, from the start of the 2023 school year, CM1 students will take national assessments in French and mathematics to give teachers benchmarks.

A consultation will also be initiated in the coming weeks with the entire educational community on the evolution of the 5th, 4th and 3rd classes.

It may "concern the methods of evaluation", and "the national diploma of the patent will be revised if necessary", indicates the press release.

© 2023 AFP