Back to school: "It's going to be very anxiety-provoking for everyone", says a teacher

When Stéphane Grulet returns this Monday morning to his establishment in Tournes (Ardennes), he will not immediately step onto the platform to teach math or spelling. The teacher of the schools will be like his colleagues seated in front of the blackboard to undergo training on barrier gestures. Sanitary rules to know on the tips of your fingers before transmitting them, Thursday, to schoolchildren who will return. Out of 170 pupils, around thirty have planned to resume lessons. And eight teachers will be present. "The town hall has installed six different routes so that no group crosses", explains the instit.

According to the Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, "a little more than a million students will return to their classes" next week "and there will be around 130,000 teachers," around 15% of schoolchildren and 34% of primary school teachers. A return to the dropper that will not happen the same way everywhere in France. Particularly because many municipalities are not ready or because, for medical or private reasons, some teachers will continue to class "at a distance".

School director in Cergy-Pontoise, Olivier Flipo can only count on 5 teachers, against 13 in normal times./LP/AC  

In his establishment in Cergy-Pontoise (Val-d'Oise), the director, Olivier Flipo, made his accounts. Regarding next week, 57 of 259 families have warned that they will send their child to school. But it will only have five teachers on site, instead of the usual thirteen. "Those who will not be able to be there physically have either pathologies incompatible with the return to school because of the risks linked to the coronavirus, or problems of childcare", explains the teacher, union delegate Unsa 95.

Mayors denounce a "forced march" deconfinement

In Ile-de-France, 329 mayors wrote an open letter to Emmanuel Macron asking him to postpone the reopening to a date later than May 11, denouncing a "forced march" deconfinement. Paris has thus warned that its schools will only reopen on Thursday, May 14, and that they will initially only welcome a priority audience (children of certain professions, disadvantaged students, etc.), or around 15% of the workforce.

In the Nice Academy, "30 to 40% of students would return to school next week," according to the rector, Richard Laganier. And on the teachers' side, "we will have almost 80% mobilized and present at the time of reopening". "Among those who return, some have the ball in the belly, stressed by the draconian sanitary conditions which it will be necessary to respect", observes Olivier Flipo.

In Tournes, in a region classified as a red zone, Stéphane Grulet knows that "it's going to be hard". “Even if we limit the number of students per teacher to four or five, we are not going to have to let them go and it may be very anxiety-provoking for everyone. "