It is an interview that is controversial: the one granted by the Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, published on our site on Sunday January 2 and then in the paper edition on Monday, back to school day. In particular, he detailed the new health protocol – since amended – applicable to the school. New fact: during this interview, as we learned from Mediapart on Monday, the minister was then… in Ibiza. What he is accused of today, even if his cabinet hastened to reply that he was nevertheless at work. On that date, France was subject to an already unprecedented epidemic wave linked to the Omicron variant, which had a strong impact on the youngest, and worried the teaching world who, the next day, will have to teach in conditions that many consider insufficiently secure.
How did this interview go? We contacted Jean-Michel Blanquer's office just before the Christmas holidays to obtain this interview. The idea was that he explains the changes to the health protocol for this start of the school year in the light of the new variant. We regularly make this type of request during key moments in school life.
A collaborator of the minister gave us her agreement on Wednesday, December 29, specifying that the minister was then “on vacation”, “with family”. We then chose to maintain this interview, by carrying it out by telephone on Saturday January 1, without ever knowing that Jean-Michel Blanquer was at that time abroad. In the process, we receive an email with the number (in 01) of a conference call platform, as well as access codes to type when starting the conversation. A usual approach when one is obliged, for reasons of timetable or travel, to question ministers remotely.
On Friday 31, the day before the interview was to be carried out, the opinion of the scientific council and that of the Haute Autorité de santé fell at the end of the day, giving the government the "framework" to draw up the "general doctrine" in terms of of protocol. Olivier Véran, Minister of Health, also detailed it with our colleagues from the “JDD” on Saturday evening. These opinions triggered a series of discussions between the Ministry of National Education, that of Health, as well as Matignon, to finalize the rules related to the return to school on Monday.
We connected to the conference call on Saturday at 2 p.m., and Jean-Michel Blanquer, a few minutes later. Around him, silence, without particular noise. Simply the voice of the minister, who answered twenty questions about the start of the school year and the presidential campaign. The interview lasted 45 minutes. At its conclusion, we sent the text of the interview back to his office for a courtesy proofreading as well as a few requests for factual clarification.
The interview came back to us on Sunday afternoon.
The time to edit the paper, to format it, to include links and to choose a photo from our archives to illustrate it, the article was put online at 4:21 p.m.
That is to say almost concomitantly with the updated protocol on the "Frequently Asked Questions" available on the website of the Ministry of National Education.
