France maintains back to school on September 1 for all students

There will be no tiered entry. The 12.3 million French primary and secondary students will return to class, all on September 1, confirmed this Wednesday the Minister of Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, who stressed the importance of students living a rentrée , the back to school in France, “as normal as possible”. A normality that, however, will have to respect protection measures, especially with regard to masks, which will finally be mandatory for all adults - until now, preschool teachers, for example, were exempt - and for students from the age of 11.

"Our school is going to resume, it must resume and it will begin on September 1 for all students in France," Blanquer said at a press conference in Paris. The school "should not become an adjustment variable to the health crisis," he stressed. "That is why I did not want to delay going back to class, and that is why I insisted that the school deconfinement take place in May and June," he recalled in reference to the fact that French students progressively returned to class since the beginning of the de-escalation national, on May 11, to end, all, the school year in person. An experience, Blanquer assured, from which everyone will now benefit, since both students and teachers are accustomed, thanks to that short return to class, to respecting the so-called barrier gestures, such as regular hand washing or keeping the hand washing as much as possible. safety distance.

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The return to school in France, in a similar way as in Spain, has been marked by the controversy over the health protocol prepared by the Government and, also, by the demand from the opposition and some parent or teacher organizations that the masks , since they will be mandatory, they are also free. An extreme that the prime minister, Jean Castex, has completely ruled out this Wednesday.

"No country in the world has generalized free masks," he said in an interview on the France Inter station. As she recalled, there are two cases in which they are already being distributed free of charge, subsidized by the State: with a medical prescription, for “any person who, whatever their age, is vulnerable to the virus based on medical criteria” and. Also, families in vulnerable situations due to lack of sufficient income. In this second case, "we have come from distributing 50 million masks to three million families, representing nine million people including children," Castex said.

On the health protocol, published in July, Blanquer on Wednesday rejected criticism that it is not updated in the face of the multiplication of coronavirus cases, which is returning to figures only seen during confinement. Above all, the protocol recommends frequent hand washing, as well as regular cleaning and ventilation of classrooms and common spaces. Although he calls for avoiding crowds "as much as possible" in courtyards or corridors, the requirement to maintain a minimum physical distance was already eliminated in July, to ensure that all schools can open in September.

As the Minister of Education has underlined, all the scenarios have been planned and, although a priori there is no new national confinement - something that Castex and the president, Emmanuel Macron have also affirmed -, there are plans in case it was necessary to do a more surgical reconfinement or apply stricter protocols in some regions. "If there should be hybrid measures", such as combining physical classes with distance learning, or even confinement, "we are ready," said Blanquer. He has also said that there are already prepared "hundreds" of teaching hours to give on television or the Internet. But “as we are not there yet”, these “adapted” protocols will not be published for the moment, so as “not to create confusion” for September 1.

“One of the great characteristics of this protocol is that it provides for all situations (…) it continues to be valid and will continue to be so,” Blanquer insisted, although some organizations, such as the National Union of Second Grade Teachers (SNES-FSU) , lamented the "numerous blind spots that continue to exist, such as in canteens, boarding schools or the procedure if there is a confirmed case of covid."

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