Every day, Le Parisien is mobilized to answer your questions around the coronavirus. Many of you have asked us about the organization of the start of the school year since Prime Minister Édouard Philippe's announcements. When will kindergarten and elementary school children resume? What about college and high school students? What about the differentiation between red and green areas?
We will try to enlighten you as much as possible, while knowing that more information should be delivered next week by the Ministry of National Education, which is still working on certain adjustments.
Speeches a week apart in front of the deputies of Jean-Michel Blanquer, the Minister of National Education, and the Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, maintain this vagueness, since if the first envisaged a return calendar on April 21 spread by level of class, the chief executive did not make such a distinction in his speech of April 28, only mentioning: "A very progressive reopening of kindergartens and elementary school, everywhere on the territory and on the basis of volunteering. "
15 students and priority criteria
What we already know is that during this first phase of deconfinement, which will start on May 11 and should end on June 2, if everything goes as the executive intends, all the students will not return not in class. The lessons will be in groups of 15 students maximum, alternately, on a voluntary basis and with certain priority criteria (children of carers, teachers, members of internal security, as well as single-parent families, children whose two parents are unable to telework and the students who drop out).
The teachers will return to school on May 11, in order to be able to welcome the first students from the 12th. Or later. In Paris, in the "red" zone, the mayor announced this Friday that the start of the school year would rather be on the 13th or 14th, for a "priority" public, all levels combined.
Note that in the green departments, the reopening concerns all schools, unless the mayor decides otherwise. But, in the red and orange departments, that is to say more confronted with the epidemic, the primary schools will be opened only "if the mayor is able to apply the detailed health protocol which will be known by the end of this week ”, replies the Ministry of Education.
Finally, let us remember that Jean-Michel Blanquer is committed to ensuring that each family is fixed on the date of return to school for their child between "May 4 and 7".
Back to school, level by level
For cribs . They are all affected by a reopening the week of May 11, even in the red zones, if the town hall can ensure health security. Again, this first three-week adaptation phase is done on a voluntary basis, with priority profiles. Children can only be welcomed in groups of ten and the staff will be forced to wear a mask.
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For kindergartens. On Tuesday, the Prime Minister only indicated, without making any distinction, that all kindergarten students could make their comeback during this first week of deconfinement.
For elementary students. It is on this point that the situation becomes dark. The Minister of Education had, on April 21, planned a resumption on May 12 for CP and CM2 only. Adding that all primary classes which usually have fewer than 15 students, often in rural areas, will also be able to start school on May 12. This represents 65,000 children, according to Jean-Michel Blanquer. In his speech on Tuesday, the chief executive did not make any distinction of levels.
We can therefore wonder about the pupils of CE1, CE2 and CM1. Will they wait for the week of May 18? This is in any case what some school administrators seem to have understood, according to the information provided to parents. Wednesday, on RMC, the Minister of Education was less assertive than April 21, explaining this time that the distinctions by levels were now "indicative" and that it was good to leave room for "local flexibility".
For college students. Here again, divergences appear between what Jean-Michel Blanquer sketched out during his “envisaged” calendar on April 21, and the speech of Edouard Philippe, whose measurements have been validated. The Prime Minister announced that only the 6th and 5th classes will open at first, from May 18, but only in the departments considered to be green, that is to say those least affected by the coronavirus epidemic . The fate of the other middle school students, 4th and 3rd, as well as the 6th and 5th in the red and orange zones, will be decided "at the end of May", he specified.
For high school students. Like most college students, high school students in general and technical subjects will be fixed on their return to school at the end of May. This also applies to students of BTS and first year of preparatory class.
For students. Emmanuel Macron had already announced it, classes will not resume face-to-face in higher education establishments before the next academic year begins. "The exams will be done mainly at a distance", also answers the Ministry of Higher Education, which advises against the organization of oral tests.
You can ask us all your questions about coronavirus by filling out our form or directly at coronavirus@leparisien.fr. Find all the answers previously published on our dedicated page.