"The situation was not satisfactory," says Christophe Kerrero, rector of the Paris academy and chancellor of the Universities.
“We had to change a system that is today misguided,” he adds.
The latter, accompanied by Antoine Destrés, director of the academy, and Claire Mazeron, academic director of the national education services in charge of high schools, held a press conference this Friday on the new Parisian modalities of the Affelnet software which allocates their future high school to the 3rd year students.
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Affelnet, the “Parcoursup” of college students: the anger of hundreds of unassigned students
For the start of the 2021 school year, the “Parcoursup” for college students is getting a makeover.
At the heart of the reform of this system whose logic was, according to the rector, “deadly”, three objectives: to promote geographical proximity, strengthen social mix and improve school mix.
No more "four districts", place for "three sectors"
It is therefore finished with the four districts (north, west, south, east) which divided Paris since 2008 and in which the students applied according to their place of residence.
From now on, Paris will be divided into three sectors, which are defined according to the distance that will separate the student from the high school he wishes to integrate.
From now on, priority is given to the first sector.
Translation: college students will have to choose between five high schools imposed by the rectorate, at most 25 minutes by transport from their sector college (the one associated with the address of residence, so not necessarily the one in which the student is currently educated ).
If the secondary schools in sectors 2 (between 25 and 40 minutes away) and 3 (more than 40 minutes away) are in theory still accessible, the points of the "geographical bonus" will be so low that it will be difficult for pupils to access an establishment belonging to one of the two zones.
But the map of said sectors, revealed Wednesday by the rectorate, does not seem to suit parents of students.
Ghislaine Morvan-Dubois, president of the FCPE Paris, explains that if the objectives of the rectorate seemed coherent to the Federation of parents' councils, its members were "extremely surprised" by the publication of this map.
A system "both inefficient and inequitable"
“We had wanted a redesign of Affelnet for several years.
The system worsened over the years, it had become both inefficient and inequitable, ”explains the president.
However, the new system does not satisfy.
“Between a quarter and a third of colleges are very unhappy for several reasons,” she says.
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The first to challenge the new sectorization of software are the colleges on the outskirts, which are often disadvantaged.
"We had promised these colleges a list comprising three attractive high schools and there, the promise is only partially kept: for some, they have only one or two," said Ghislaine Morvan-Dubois.
This is particularly the case of the François-Villon college, in the south of the 14th arrondissement, which has only two attractive high schools in its card although it had been promised three.
"The college was expecting a more balanced offer", clarifies the president of FCPE Paris, before adding: "We had trusted the rectorate on this commitment, it is a very strong reason for dissatisfaction.
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The center of the capital still protected
Another point of irritation: while the FCPE would have liked the very attractive high schools in the center of Paris to be spread over the whole of the territory, the latter almost all remain exclusively attached to the colleges of the center.
Finally, while the Federation of Parents of Students advocates inter-neighborhood diversity (in short, parents want their children to be able to change neighborhood), for some colleges, the map is too restricted geographically, which does not allow it.
The FCPE therefore calls on the rectorate to reassess the map of sectors and in particular to rebalance it between the peripheral and central colleges.
This card does not correspond "neither to the expectations, nor to the promises", concludes Ghislaine Morvan-Dubois.