Day nurseries such as nursery and primary schools should welcome pupils again from May 11. A decision that still leaves many parents and teachers in the dark. France is not the first country to reopen its schools, however.
Thousands of students in Europe and around the world have already returned to school. Back to school which, for the most part, is organized in small groups, wearing a mask and according to a different calendar. Overview of our foreign neighbors.
Germany reopens some schools
The reopening of schools is also gradual among our German neighbors. If Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced that a global decision will not be taken until May 6, some students have already returned to school. In Bavaria, pupils who are at the end of their course in middle or high school and who must pass an exam, in particular their Abitur (the equivalent of the bac) returned to class on April 27.
But the recovery must take place on Monday for several hundred thousand students in other Länder, such as in Rhineland-Palatinate, located on the French border. Once again, only the Germans at the end of their cycle, in primary or high school, will make their return.
In other words, "all those for whom the last weeks of the school year are important," summarizes the weekly Die Zeit. This recovery must be done in small groups and respecting the rules of social distancing.
A priori, nothing before September in Italy
Asphyxiated by the pandemic, Italy is playing it safe by closing its establishments until September. However nurseries and kindergartens could reopen in June, notes the Italian press. These reopenings would be in small groups of 3 to 6 children from 0 to 6 years old, whose temperature would be controlled at the entrance, details the daily Corriere della Sera, citing a project of the Ministry of Education. Children would not wear masks, but teachers would be forced to do so.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has however repeatedly stressed the potential for contagion that children may have and the risk of seeing the epidemic resume. Another fact to take into account: Italy has the oldest faculty in the OECD countries. Almost 60% of its teachers are over 50.
In Spain, no class before September
Spanish schoolchildren cannot return to school before September. A decision that would be widely approved by the parents of students, worried about the health of their children. But this late return to school obviously poses organizational questions for parents forced to resume their activity. Educational centers could then open soon to welcome children whose parents cannot telework, specifies LCI.
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The vagueness also reigns for the 300,000 high school students who had to pass the equivalent of the baccalaureate this year. The review is expected to be postponed until September.
High schools reopen in Austria
Back to school time struck on Monday in Austria. A part of the pupils resumed this Monday the way of the school, within a framework arranged to prevent new infections. The 100,000 pupils at the end of their studies at the lycée are the first to resume lessons in order to prepare for their exam. Then, 700,000 children between the ages of 6 and 14 will be admitted again on May 15. Finally, around 300,000 students over the age of 14 and without a diploma to validate will wait until May 29.
The classes are divided into two to ensure the necessary sanitary distance: a first group runs from Monday to Wednesday and the second on Thursdays and Fridays. This calendar will be reversed from one week to the next so that each student has the same teaching time.
Back to school not in the UK
Just returned from convalescence, Boris Johnson reminded the British last Monday that it was not yet time to think about deconfinement. The government has insisted that the establishments will only reopen "when there is no longer any risk", without however giving a precise date. Last week, Secretary of State for the Interior Priti Patel, even deemed it "irresponsible" to announce a date for the reopening of schools, while her colleague, Gavin Williamson, Secretary of State for Education, added that there was "no plan".
In the meantime, the assessment of the pupils continues on the basis of continuous assessment.
Little Danes in school since mid-April
The little Danes were the first to return to school in Europe. Under cover since March 11, the country reopened its kindergartens and primary classes on April 15. Middle school and high school students remain confined. This return to school was done in half-groups. In class, each child should be seated two meters from their classmates. Students and teachers are invited to spend as much time as possible outside, in the playground.
Each child should wash their hands at least once every two hours. For their part, teachers are required to regularly disinfect door handles, switches, but also tables, mice and computer keyboards.
A next phase of deconfinement was initially scheduled for May 11. Under pressure from the opposition, the government has indicated that it could be brought forward, depending on the evolution of the epidemic.
Deconfinement: Denmark tests outdoor courses
Schools in Sweden… still open
Sweden is an exception in its management of the pandemic. Much more affected than the other Nordic countries, the State has not yet decreed a containment measure. Schools and restaurants have always remained open.
Ultra-safe return to China
After having closed all of its schools at the end of January, China has gradually started to reopen them region by region and under very strict conditions. Classes had already resumed in mid-March for students in their final year of secondary schools in the less populated Guizhou province, southwest of Hubei, the epicenter of the epidemic.
In Beijing as in Shanghai, the start of the school year was for secondary school students starting on April 27 in small groups. To pass through the doors of the establishments, students must wear a mask and go through a disinfection airlock. Their temperature is then taken before entering the classroom. Meals must also be taken in class rather than in the canteen.
In the capital, only high school students in the last year were allowed to return to class to prepare for the "gaokao", the Chinese bac, university entrance exam.
