Emmanuel Macron goes Monday morning, the day of a return to school under health surveillance for nursery and primary, in a school in Melun, to discuss with students and teachers, accompanied by the Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer.
This visit aims to "
thank them for their commitment since the beginning of the crisis and discuss with them the specific health framework for schools and the means implemented to ensure pedagogical continuity,
" said the Elysee in a press release.
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This start of the school year, which will precede by one week the face-to-face or half-gauge school in middle and high schools, will be accompanied by a strengthening of the health protocol with in particular the increase in saliva tests as well as the closure of classes as soon as a Covid-19 case is detected.
They will be supplemented, from this start of the school year, by the massive deployment of self-tests for educational staff and high school students, as well as the opening of vaccination with priority access to teachers over 55 years old.
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"
The Head of State is committed to keeping schools as open as possible with regard to educational issues, but also to fight against inequalities and intra-family or external violence
", underlines the Elysee.
"
Our children need to learn, to be together and no one can say the deep and lasting consequences of a prolonged closure of schools, which reinforces social inequalities
", he declared at the end of March.
According to Unesco, France was the European country which has closed its schools the least for a year (March 2020-March 2021) with 10 weeks of closure in total, against 28 in Germany and 47 in the United States, welcomes the Presidency.
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A choice that Emmanuel Macron defends continuously since the end of the first confinement, despite criticism from part of the medical profession and the opposition.
The start of the school year is the first phase towards the gradual lifting of restrictions due to the Covid-19 epidemic.
The next stage, on May 3, in addition to the return to school or half-gauge colleges and high schools, must see the travel restrictions disappear.
A more important stage is planned for mid-May, with the reopening of terraces and shops, while the epidemic is slowly decreasing and the vaccination campaign continues.