"We move forward in total vagueness", summarizes, Zoé, 17 years old.
Like her, many high school students enrolled in a non-contract establishment are still struggling to understand the contours of their future baccalaureate.
Because if the government announced that the first specialty tests would be canceled in favor of continuous assessment in public high schools, no decision has yet been mentioned concerning private structures outside the contract.
"The details have not yet been decided, but they should soon be known," said the Ministry of Education, without giving more details.
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Cancellation of the written exams: "There will be zero pride in having this bac", deplore the high school students
In the meantime, Zoe is preparing "under stress" for her literature and arts test, scheduled for a few weeks.
“It's still incredible that the National Education does not even consider it useful to address our case.
We try to revise, to move forward in the program but we don't even know if the test will take place.
In my class, we are all afraid of being considered the
Covid generation
who will have won their baccalaureate in the lottery.
Suddenly, we are all exhausted, stressed and lost… ”sighs the high school student.
Towards a “two-speed ferry”?
Zoe is not the only one in this case.
To date, the 1,500 non-contract schools identified in France welcome 85,000 students out of the 12.4 million registered, according to the Ministry of National Education.
But if they remain in the minority, their situation deserves to be equally considered, insists the teaching staff.
“We have the impression that students without contracts live in a world apart and are not affected by the crisis!
However, they are registered in legal establishments, supervised and inspected, ”insists Titiane Salleron, legal director at the Foundation for schools, representing schools outside the contract.
The refusal of a continuous control for these students could create a "two-speed bac", penalizing them considerably, considers the lawyer.
"Seen as it is started, our pupils will have to pass all the tests of the common core (history-geography, scientific teaching, languages) and certain specialties in June, while those registered in the public or in the private under contract will not have than to prepare philosophy and the grand oral.
A little unbalanced, no?
Students from the public will be able to devote all their time to these two tests and will thus have more chances of obtaining better marks while those without contract will be overwhelmed by work, ”Judge Titiane Salleron.
"We are very worried about our students"
For some teachers, this lack of decision on the part of the government only “stigmatizes” students, who for some, are already experiencing difficulties.
“Let's get on well: getting them to sit the exams in June won't be a problem, my students will be ready.
But we cannot say on the one hand, 'we do not authorize exams because it is too dangerous' and on the other, let students take this risk, ”contests Loïc Depalle, professor of mathematics and director of the private school Maigret, in the 15th arrondissement of Paris.
“Some suffer from disorders (dyslexia, dyspraxia) and go to schools outside contracts precisely because the public system, as it was thought, does not suit them.
They need special support, to be supervised in small groups.
Today, not only are these students rejected by the public, but they are still rejected when they are refused to take the bac like the others.
It's unfair for them, ”adds the director.
Another problem raised is that the holding of written tests could undermine the neutrality that examiners must demonstrate.
“Since the students without contracts will be almost the only ones to take these tests, this will call into question the whole principle of neutrality!
Reviewers will know where the copies are coming from, which is no reassurance.
Because there is always a fight between the public and the private.
We say to ourselves that the jury will have to examine copies of high school students on whom it may already have a priori.
In short, we are very worried about our students ”, underlines Loïc Depalle.
"The freedom to teach comes at a high price"
Wanting to move the lines, the teacher had his final year classes write a letter to the deputies, asking them to hold an exam "respecting the principle of equality".
"They wrote in their own words, explaining for example, that being a student without a contract does not protect them from Covid and that they too want to have the same opportunities as the others and to be protected", reports the professor.
After having "flooded hundreds of mailboxes", no response has yet been sent to them.
“Oh, we don't delude ourselves, you know…” breathes Loïc Depalle.
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Last year, however, the government finally accepted that non-contract high school students also pass their baccalaureate in continuous assessment, like other students.
A decision that had been decided when the Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer had initially mentioned the holding of tests in September, causing an outcry among teachers.
“Continuous monitoring worked well last year.
We do not understand why it would be difficult to put it back in place today.
The Minister no doubt thinks that we cannot have everything, and that the freedom to teach unfortunately comes at a high price… ”, concludes Titiane Salleron.
