Since the start of the health crisis linked to the Covid-19 epidemic, the turbulence internal to the French Ministry of Education has been exposed, sometimes leaving parents and teachers speechless. "No closure in sight," it was assured in schools a few hours before Emmanuel Macron announced the opposite on television, March 12. Then it was the turn of the exams, maintained, then partially postponed. And again the distance learning service, "ready" according to the ministry, but which experienced delays in switching on at the start of last week.
Faced with this list, we oppose rue de Grenelle the exceptional work provided by a whole administration to adapt, in record time. More than 850,000 teachers on the bridge, not counting school heads, inspectors, rectorates. In short, an army that also mobilizes televisions, radios and written media to feed the intelligence of 12 million students. In rural areas, teachers send activity files by post.
"Of course, there will always be things wrong, but you have to see the exceptional side of what is accomplished. We fight like lions, ”says one in the entourage of Jean-Michel Blanquer, a minister anxious to reassure about the system's ability to move forward, even with closed yards.
Disparities that are obvious
But seen from the window of the phones, on the conversation loops, it is the inevitable disparity in the conditions of study of each one that is obvious. It is Julia, in 3rd grade, who worries that her teachers cannot verify that she has finished her exercises, when other schoolgirls on “corona vacations” only wonder about one thing: the slate of the hours of glue given before containment will it be erased?
There are also these teachers, experienced in digital technology, who multiply videoconferences and online chats, while others, never trained in computers, struggle to send a daily email. In the absence of common professional equipment, no teacher in France works with the same means.
Of course, the school did not wait for Covid-19 to suffer from these inequalities. The difference in success between rich and poor is even a sad French specialty. To avoid "a collapse of the level", Jean-Michel Blanquer counts on the solidarity of adults ... and weekly phone calls to parents.
Time is playing against school
"The telephone is the surest way to understand each other in all circles," says Marie-Aleth Grard, vice-president of the ATD Quart-Monde network, who is worried: "If the break-up lasts more than five at six weeks, there will be a big difference between those who play family games and those who don't. "
The time of the epidemic is playing against the school which, by way of sandbags, is piling up educational resources on the Internet. The courses of the National Center for Distance Education (Cned) were calibrated to "last" four weeks. He works an extra month of school at home.