Maria Laura Avignolo
11/02/2020 17:05
Clarín.com
World
Updated 11/02/2020 17:05
Twelve million students
returned to class on Monday in nursery schools,
nursery schools and high schools in France under tension, in an "emergency attack" and commemorated with a minute of silence the death of Samuel Paty, the civic education teacher who was beheaded 15 days ago. for showing the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed to his students, at Conflans Sainte Honorine.
Prime Minister Jean Castex and Minister of Education Jean Michel Blanquer attended the celebration at the Bois d'Aulne College, where the teacher, who was killed at the door by an 18-year-old terrorist from Chechen, worked.
Difficult days in the country.
An act of courage for French teachers, who must teach in this climate of war,
with France confined
by coronavirus
.
The streets, schools and places of worship patrolled by 7,000 heavily armed soldiers throughout the country to prevent attacks and protect the population.
Each school has the sign of "Urgent attack" and the health instructions below, because of the virus.
This Monday, the Toussaint holidays ended in France and the students returned to school,
despite the harsh confinement due to the virus
.
The “rentrée” was to begin at 10 am to give the teachers time to prepare the ceremony.
Then it was changed to 11 o'clock and they found out on the radio and the news.
An hour of pedagogy devoted to freedom of expression is planned but can be done throughout November.
"No class or establishment can be exempted from this hour of work and exchange, where every student in France must benefit," announced the Minister of Education.
At the Bois d'Aulne school, the atmosphere was different from that of the other schools in France.
Teachers, professors, managers, students and their families lived the horror of an Islamist attack at the door of their establishment.
The
nationwide
tribute to Samuel Paty
was to his History and Geography teacher.
To "Monsieur Paty", as the students call him, "a teacher who loved to teach, make us laugh and encourage our critical thinking, to promote freedom of expression."
There was not only the Prime Minister and the Minister of Education.
Laurent Brosse, the mayor of Conflans Saint Honorine, the commune where they live, had come to the school and was close to everyone on that atrocious day of beheading.
But they chose 8-year-old boys as interlocutors.
The government account Jean Castex showed the boys singing La Marseillaise with them.
On the blackboard there was a class from La República and a statement of its values.
Police officers patrol the Trocadero Square near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.
Fot Xinhua
The school not only suffered the barbaric death of its teacher.
Five of his students were bribed by the terrorist with 300 euros to help him identify him.
Two of them, aged 14, have been charged with complicity in the murder.
"There was a lot of excitement among the teachers," described the mayor, Laurent Brosee.
"But it was very nice this morning that they were all there.
This means that the republican school is present and that teaching continues ”, he described.
After having attended the reading of the letter from Jean Jaurés to the teachers by the students of the CM2 class, the mayor was "impressed" by the attitude of these students, who have become aware of what has happened and who understand the system of this tribute ”.
He remembers the terrible shock of October 16, when Samuel Paty lost his life, in
"this city that has no habits of crime, violence and less barbarism."
Here Samuel Paty taught every boy in the Republic to be a free citizen.
For him, for our country, we will continue.
This is our honor and our duty, ”the head of government wrote on Twitter.
The ceremony culminated with an invitation to the students to visit the Ministry of Education and the Matignon Palace, the residence of the Prime Minister.
They then left for the neighboring primary school, Le Clos dé Haut de Conflans Sainte Honorine, where after listening to Jean Jaurés's letter to the teachers, they observed a minute of silence, slightly delayed in relation to the national tribute.
"Let's stay together"
President Emmanuel Macron sent a message to all the students.
"You start the road to school today, I think of you," said the head of state on social networks.
"We will all stick together. I know your excitement after the terrorist attacks, one of them in front of a school against a teacher.
Today in class, you are going to pay tribute to Samuel Paty.
We will all think about him, you and your teachers.
Talk to each other.
Talk to the teachers.
Talk about what unites you.
The project of terrorism is to manufacture hatred
, to confront each other, to create fear, ”Macron wrote on all the networks that young people use.
Then he asked for help to face the Covid virus, to use the mask ", even if it is difficult", but "soon we will recover a normal life" he said.
Unite, defend the republic, values, secularism, the republican school.
The French government turned to its intellectuals, its actors and its admired footballers to get the message across today.
Kylian Mbappé, the footballer of Paris Saint Germain, the perfect son of the republican school of the difficult suburbs of Bondy, described for the boys what she represents.
Businesses closed in Paris.
AFP photo
“The school of the republic is like a soccer team
.
Teachers are like our coaches.
To learn and win, we must play together, listen, share, train.
At school and on the playing field, let's be united ”, wrote the idol of the boys of France and a member of their team.
One by one, all the players of the French team defended the cause of the Republican school.
Griezmann, Giroud, Dubois, Pavard, Lenglet, Varane, Nzonzi, Lloris, Tolisso,
reminded students of the role of teachers, the link between the school
and the values of the republic.
An idea born between Noël Le Graët, president of the French Football Federation, and Jean Michel Blanquer, the minister of education and sport.
The reality in schools appears different.
Many kids feel traumatized to return.
Other teachers fearful of teaching and putting themselves and their families at risk in schools in sensitive neighborhoods, where Salafism is spreading.
"I don't have the courage,"
admitted Emmanuel, one of them, who teaches history in the suburbs of Paris.
Covid does not make it easier. Beyond health protocols, the effectiveness of measures in high schools is difficult.
Classes are still massive and without social distance
.
Gel and masks are kept.
But it is very difficult to meet the other demands: windows open when they are not, impossible science classes, formal but not real protocols.
In some high schools, teachers have called on strike to denounce the impossibility of teaching under these circumstances, such as at the Baudelaire de Roubaix high school, in northern France, where the epidemic explodes.
The students show images of overflowing classes and without distance in the networks.
The tribute to Professor Samuel Paty.
AFP photo
Schools are heavily guarded
, especially in the suburbs of big cities like Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux, Lille, Nice, Marseille.
Barriers prevent the approach of cars.
That presence reassures parents but worries children.
“Why are the police in front of the school, Mom?” Asked an 8-year-old girl at the door of a school on rue Keller in Paris.
Many parents preferred not to talk about the attacks on the youngest children because they considered that they had enough anguish with confinement and masks, which they must use from the age of 6.
They left that responsibility to the teachers.
PB
Look also
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Terrorist attack in France: Macron repudiated the "Islamist attack" in Nice and mobilized 7,000 soldiers throughout the country