The National Assembly voted on Wednesday evening at first reading for the National Education budget for 2021, marked by the release of 400 million euros to enhance the careers of teachers at the start of their careers.
The budget increase must finance various bonuses, in particular an attractiveness bonus (260 million euros for a full year) targeting early and mid-career staff, as well as a computer equipment bonus (178 million euros ) 150 euros net annually for each teacher.
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As the Minister of National Education Jean-Michel Blanquer had already indicated, it would represent around 100 euros net monthly increase for teachers at the time of their tenure.
The Minister of Education launched on October 22 a “
Grenelle de l'Education
” which should allow for three months a broad reflection on the “
modernizations of National Education
” and an improvement in remuneration.
French teachers' salaries are 7% lower at the start of their careers than the average for Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.
The unions have expressed several reservations on the promised increases, judging the overall envelope insufficient to respond to the "
downgrading of wages
" in the profession.
Overall, the budgetary mission dedicated to "
school education
" benefits from an increase of nearly 2 billion euros in payment appropriations between 2020 and 2021 to reach 75.9 billion euros, the first place in the budget of the state.
The jobs of the ministry are generally stabilized, with a priority always given to the "
first degree
", while 1800 positions are cut to the college and the high school.
This point focused a large part of the debates, the left in particular denouncing a "
weakening of secondary education
", in the words of the communist Elsa Faucillon.
Pierre-Yves Bournazel, of the Agir ensemble group, member of the majority, for his part welcomed the measures in favor of a revaluation of the teaching profession, "
an absolute necessity
".
The deputies also adopted an amendment by Erwan Balanant (MoDem) increasing by 15 million the credits for school medicine, the traditional poor relation of national education.
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Many speakers on all the benches paid tribute during the debates to Samuel Paty, the teacher beheaded during an Islamist attack near his college in the Paris suburbs.
This teacher "
died as a hussar of a school that carried the values of the Enlightenment high,
" Blanquer said.
The challenges for schools due to the Covid-19 crisis were also raised throughout this budget debate which, coincidentally, was held at the same time as the announcement of a new national confinement by the President Macron.
However, schools will remain open during this period, unlike the confinement last spring.
