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Starting this Monday, teachers at hundreds of elementary schools across the country are preparing their classrooms for students to return this week. This means implementing the necessary procedures to protect against coronavirus contamination, which is not an easy task in some cases.
France’s education minister Jean-Michel Blanquer says he hopes “all children can return to their school at least once in late May.”
In an exclusive interview with the weekly newspaper. Journal du Dimanche On Sunday, he said that after 55 days of closure, 86 percent of France’s 50,500 schools would open on May 11.
This figure represents more than 1.5 million children out of 6.7 million primary school students.
The remaining elementary schools will reopen at the end of the month.
Junior and senior high schools (Collèges, Lycées) will open later according to the color-coded map designed to indicate the regions where blocking measures should be maintained.
About 50 percent of teachers will return to work Monday to welcome their students in classes of 15 students, he said, while those not present will continue to teach their classes from a distance as they have been for the past few years. two months.
Students must be seated a minimum of one meter away and avoid crossing other students in the hallways and patios.
For small schools that have difficulty adjusting to the list of strict hygiene measures required, the minister said he was encouraging other forms of activity to take place outdoors, such as sports, health and culture, some outside from school.
Blanquer said the government had allocated € 250 million to finance these additional activities in collaboration with local services in charge of museums, parks and cultural centers.
Children in difficulties from disadvantaged backgrounds and children whose parents work in certain sectors, such as health, would be prioritized, explained the minister, adding that recovering all classes would be a gradual process.
Psychological Support
The main goal, he emphasized, was to provide psychological support “to welcome students, listen to them and see how they are doing.”
“The goal is not to conclude the year’s programs at all costs, we must see how to distribute the workload between this year and next.”
Last Friday, Blanquer told France Inter radio that, in some cases, the government would pay for classes to catch up over the summer (July 4 to September 1) to help children who had lost touch. with school during confinement to stay on track.
There is concern that too much pressure will be put on the mayors of individual cities to make the difficult decision to reopen their schools without the necessary logistical help.
More than 300 mayors from the Il-de-France region, which is still in an area called “red”, signed a petition last week alerting President Emmanuel Macron of his concerns and asking for a postponement.
When asked about this, Blanquer assured mayors that if a child fell ill with coronavirus at school, the state would have legal responsibility, not the mayors.
Voluntary, not compulsory
Another point of discussion has been the decision to make returning to school voluntary.
Parents have received surveys from their schools asking whether or not they want to send their children to school, and if they said yes, they would understand that it would be only part-time, in many cases without additional services. such as after school care or dining room meals.
When asked about wearing masks, Blanquer said 2.3 million had been ordered for the week of May 11 to be distributed to teaching staff, with another order on the way for May 18.
Teachers, high school students, and custodial staff must wear one at all times, while elementary school children are not required to wear one.
