“An increase in the issuance of certificates by health professionals prescribing a contraindication to swimming lessons for young girls.
This is what the Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, and the Deputy Minister in charge of Citizenship, Marlène Schiappa, say in a press release published on Thursday, linking this phenomenon to "religious separatism".
And the ministers to announce an investigation "in order to measure the extent of this phenomenon which seems to have appeared recently".
Figures that don't exist
Asked Friday morning by Le Parisien on the subject, neither the Ministry of National Education nor the cabinet of Marlène Schiappa could provide figures.
On CNews, Thursday evening, Marlène Schiappa explained that she had been "alerted by teachers".
But the Minister Delegate also explained that the investigation launched aims to "assess the prevalence" of the phenomenon and "know if it is marginal or if it happens in many places in France".
Marlène Schiappa: “Many young girls did not come to the swimming pool and were dispensed by saying that they were allergic to chlorine.
In truth there was a will of the family to remove them from learning to swim ”in #Punchline pic.twitter.com/9hmsHaxnGq
- CNEWS (@CNEWS) February 11, 2021
In the field, however, the bell is different.
"We do not note these problems in our courses and we have never had any feedback from these problems", notes to the Parisian Jonathan Alvès, professor of physical education and sports (EPS) at the Marcelin Berthelot college in Montreuil (Seine- Saint-Denis), and co-secretary general of the SNEP-FSU union for the 93. "We have no particular lifts on this point", supports Sophie Rieu, professor of PE in Puy-Sainte-Reparade, near Marseille ( Bouches-du-Rhône), at the head of the same union for the Aix-Marseille academy.
A vague concept
Spokesman for SNUipp-FSU, the first teachers' union in the first degree - where the first swimming lessons are given -, Guislaine David also defeats this assertion.
"These statements are only intended to create a buzz and stigmatize a population," she thinks.
And to specify: "The risk is to let people believe that it exists, because the minister himself said it!
"
Certificates of convenience to skip swimming lessons?
We find a trace of it in the book "How we let Islamism penetrate the school", published in 2020, written by Jean-Pierre Obin, Inspector General of National Education until 2008. He writes there, without sourcing : “The swimming pool and outdoor activities are the most affected, in particular by a significant absenteeism of girls, sometimes in the majority, most often supported by medical certificates.
Today, this phenomenon, which yesterday affected a limited number of neighborhoods, is becoming massive.
Jean-Michel Blanquer charged, Thursday, Jean-Pierre Obin with a mission on the training of teachers in secularism at school.
Rarely religious reasons
"We have always had children who did not want to go to the swimming pool, but there was no explosion", deplores Benoît Hubert, at the head of SNEP-FSU, the union which has a very large majority among PE teachers. .
And the trade unionist to emphasize: "When this is the case, it has nothing religious and it does not only concern girls.
"" There are sometimes certificates, students who do not want to play sports, admits Guislaine David.
But this is not related to religion!
"
“When we ask someone if he remembers his PE lessons, he will directly tell us about the swimming pool,” explains Jonathan Alvès.
Why ?
Because showing off in a swimsuit, changing in front of his comrades, at an age when the body changes, and where the complexes can be important, is far from obvious.
“At the pool, there is the problem of the swimsuit, and not everyone is comfortable,” explains Sophie Rieu.
This does not only concern the swimming pool and not only the girls: "We have overweight boys, those who don't want to run, or quite simply young people who are not well in their skin", explains Hubert Manuel.
Jonathan Alvès, in Seine-Saint-Denis, points to another problem: “School doctors can be called to verify whether a dispensation is a dispensation of convenience or whether it is real.
But today there is not enough manpower to put this in place.
"" In the texts, we can make a student pass in front of a school doctor, confirms Sophie Rieu.
But the reality is that we don't see them anymore.
"