There is no question at this stage of closing the schools, assured again this Wednesday Professor Jean-François Delfraissy, president of the Scientific Council, questioned on France Info.
But how to reduce the spread of the epidemic, despite the mixing of students, which is more with the appearance of the British variant on French territory?
Perceived as places of contamination, the canteens could well be subject to an upcoming closure.
However, 8 million students of all levels eat lunch there every day, according to the Institute for Economic and Social Research (IRES).
The smallest being the most represented, with 7 out of 10 children registered.
What choices would parents have to ensure their child a breakfast, sometimes the only balanced meal of the day?
The announcement of its potential abolition creates anguish and confusion among the parents of the students.
Read also: Covid-19: the uncertain role of children in the epidemic
Closure of canteens and lunches at home
One of the solutions raised would be to send schoolchildren home for lunch.
"
And if I work, what do I do?"
», Protests Paula, mother of four children, aged between 3 and 12 years old.
His companion is a mason about thirty kilometers from the school, making the round trip for an hour's break "
is very complicated
".
Even if more than a quarter of employees have teleworked during the reconfinement, many parents exercise at their workplace, either by choice or by obligation, like Laurie, mother of a 6-year-old daughter.
With her husband, they run a bakery in Strasbourg, it is impossible for them to pick up their child to prepare a meal for him.
Would it then be possible to reserve the canteen for only children whose parents work face-to-face or live far away?
A concession that Aude, from Toulouse, is ready to make.
Mother of two little girls in primary school and a teleworker, she agrees to take two hours out of her day "which
she will catch up in the evening after 8 pm
", even if she recognizes that this is not ideal.
"
If this is the condition for leaving schools open, then okay
", adds Mathilde, a midwife, who prefers to take her three daughters at noon on days when she is not on call to what they eat. cold.
A solution that "
will not concern many people
", tempers Anne-Louise, a teacher in a primary school in Lyon.
"
Parents will organize themselves among themselves, so not a better idea to limit the mixing of students,
" adds Rodrigo Arenas co-president of the FCPE, the first federation of parents of students.
For him, it is up to school and town halls to organize and invest to protect children.
Setting up packed lunches and lunches in the classes
“
It's up to the school to provide meals,
” adds Séverine, Savoyard mother of a teenager, educated 25 minutes by car from their home.
She refuses to buy sandwiches for her son every day that would have "
a significant financial cost
".
At Stamford University, USA, each student can collect a packed lunch.
JOHN MOORE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP
It is essential for her that children eat hot and inside, especially during this winter period.
"
We should use the rooms identified by the town hall to allow children to eat there
", defends Rodrigo Arenas, co-president of the FCPE.
In particular empty gymnasiums due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In Taiwan, children are surrounded by Plexiglas sheets and eat their lunch alone at a table to avoid contamination.
In Taiwan, children each eat lunch at their own table, surrounded by plexiglass to avoid transmitting the virus through food.
Sam Yeh / AFP
"I prefer to give them a packed lunch to heat up than to let them eat cold,
cowardly Céline, mother of two children,
even if it's a hassle"
.
They still need to have enough to heat their meals, which requires significant organization for schools.
Equipping the rooms with stoves, microwaves, tables and chairs "
entails an additional cost for the community because it requires hiring a lot more staff
", worries Miguel Leroy, mayor of Auvilliers les Forges, in the Ardennes.
As president of the community of commune, he is in charge of the good functioning of the eight schools of the agglomeration.
By distributing the pupils in more rooms, the children are thus dispersed and do not concentrate too many in the canteens.
“
We can also rethink timetables
,” says Rodrigo Arenas, “
organize different services as is already done in some kindergartens.
"For him,"
anything is possible
", on condition of consulting with all the educational staff.
