The Ministers of National Education and of the City and Housing announce measures that have been put in place to combat the injustices between the students related to the consequences of confinement. Among which 5 million euros to support solidarity actions in sensitive neighborhoods, an objective of increasing from 15,000 to 30,000 students helped by tutoring associations.
How many families fail to keep in touch with the school?
JEAN-MICHEL BLANQUER. The proportion of families who lack connection equipment is estimated at 5%. Two factors can prevent students from being reached: a numeric factor and a social factor. Since mid-March, we have been working on these two aspects, and initiatives from local authorities, the associative world and the State have developed to provide tablets and computers. Today we want to complete these approaches, to reduce the digital divide in a sustainable way, beyond confinement.
What will be the answer in the working-class districts particularly concerned?
JULIEN DENORMANDIE. The first social inequality is access to education. However, there are children in certain neighborhoods, perhaps more than in other parts of the territory, who today have difficulties with regard to educational continuity. We therefore decided to grant nearly 10 million euros for a massive purchase of computer and connection equipment, such as 3G or 4G keys. This should make it possible to have the equipment necessary to ensure remote work. The health crisis highlights territorial inequalities. The digital tool is a solution in this period of confinement to remedy this.
Is there not a risk that the equipment will arrive too late for people, when the deconfinement must start on May 11?
Newsletter - The essentials of the news
Every morning, the news seen by Le ParisienI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more
JD No, because we support initiatives already launched by actors in the field, and by doing so, it is immediately operational. Local actors, in particular associations, can immediately benefit from these credits, through the prefectures.
Will these children from working-class neighborhoods also be the ones who go back to school first?
J.-MB Despite everything that can be done to compensate for inequalities during confinement, the fact remains that they are likely to worsen. The deconfinement aims at that. We are currently working on the best way to proceed. There will be several criteria to prioritize audiences.
This health crisis, and the issue of digital disruption, is also an opportunity for solidarity initiatives in the neighborhoods. Will you support them?
JD Yes. There are a lot of solidarity actions in the districts. We support them. This is why, I am announcing the establishment of a fund of 5 million euros to support these very close solidarity actions, such as food aid, school support, help for babysitting for those who have to go to work ... In many associations, there is sometimes a lack of enough to buy packaging, utensils, fuel for the truck. The State, which finances many associations, was not equipped to finance these few thousand euros which sometimes change everything. The fund will be used to support this local solidarity.
A partnership with La Poste must also make it possible to ensure educational continuity, particularly in the “white areas”, what is its record?
J.-MB This is a very innovative solution. The professor prepares the documents which he deposits on a platform expressly designed by La Poste, which she prints and sends to the home of a student, who can then return his copy in a prepaid envelope. About 21,000 establishments have registered. We can handle 15,000 shipments per day. It is already a success. In Val-d'Oise, for example, 400 families have already benefited from this system. Several thousand assignments are already downloaded and sent across the country.
How was the tutoring provided by teachers during the spring break?
J.-MB This system started well with personalized monitoring. Out of 9 academies - France has 30 - 87,600 students of all levels combined, just over 12,000 teachers volunteered. At the end of the spring break, for the other areas, 250,000 children should be helped in this way.
Why would children “lost” at the start of confinement be more accessible today?
J.-MB Each week we progress thanks to the voluntarism of all the actors. Obviously, we cannot catch up with all of the dropouts… but we reached students who were no longer responding, as well as students in difficulty who needed personalized support. We estimate that we have gone from 8% to 4% of students not contacted.
Outside of national education, how can we support the least advantaged students?
JD By relying on associations as close to the field as possible. We have mobilized a dozen of them specialized in tutoring and mentoring, such as Article 1, the Télémaque Institute, the AFEV… We will support them to double the number of students they support from 15,000 to 30,000 students by July. Our goal is to be part of the long term, beyond confinement. For this, one million euros will be released to finance the connecting platforms, equipment, or campaigns to mobilize new tutors.
Where to find these new tutors?
JD There are many fishponds. An example: a year ago with Jean-Michel Blanquer we launched "my third year internship" to allow students in the 3rd priority neighborhoods of the city, without network, to find internships. Former internship teachers will be able to accompany the college students they have known through this means. Many young people in civic service also want to mobilize.
J.-MB There are also tutoring between high school students, or the civic platform that we just launched with Gabriel Attal, Jeveuxaider.gouv.fr. All these solidarities prepare for deconfinement. And this period is not so long ago. The tutors will then be decisive for catching up, for the preparation of next year.
Will this crisis change the digital game at school? Is one tablet per student now a goal?
J.-MB The current period shows the importance of digital. There will be a general meeting on digital education in Poitiers in the fall. On these subjects, you have to know what you want, how you get there before talking about equipment. It is not just a matter of setting material ambitions.