A perfectly clear health protocol to properly prepare for the start of the school year?
Not so sure.
This Wednesday, August 25, on the eve of the return to school conference of the Minister of Education, the teachers' unions had a videoconference of more than two hours with the cabinet of Jean-Michel Blanquer.
"Some clarifications made, but a lot of gray areas"
, essentially explain the union representatives.
To discover
Bac 2021 results: find the results, academy by academy
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It must be said that the minister had drawn on Sunday, in a long interview with the
JDD
, visibly pressed by President Macron to have a clear word on the protocol. It is therefore the “level 2” protocol that was chosen for the start of the school year, among the four scenarios published at the end of July by the national education system (from green to red, depending on the circulation of the virus, with a hybridization of the lessons. from level 3).
On the program: mask for all indoors (or even in playgrounds for cities where it is again compulsory), contact sports prohibited, face-to-face lessons for all, closure of a class from the first case at school primary, avoidance of contact cases, except for vaccinated students, in middle school and high school.
If the
"limitation of the mixing of students"
is included in the protocol, the question of the canteen remains, according to the unions, a
"blind spot"
.
Several indicators to examine
In the event of contamination, middle and high schools will establish “
risky contacts
” with the pupil concerned and will inform the parents. Vaccinated or immunized students will continue to go to class, on the basis of a certificate from parents, "
knowing that health insurance will be able to verify the vaccination status of contacts at risk
". Students vaccinated with potentially contact cases will not be tested, contrary to the doctrine of the Ministry of Health for the general population.
"The ministry explained to us that its decision was based on an epidemiological expertise"
, we report to Unsa.
The possible transition from one level of protocol to another will depend on several indicators: incidence rate, vaccination rate, hospital situation and advice from local authorities (prefects and ARS), who may for example decide on the wearing of the mask. outdoors, so in playgrounds.
If for the moment, level 2 is valid on the whole of the metropolitan territory, it could well be that local evolutions are decided, according to the contrasting epidemiological situation on the territories.
Read also In Guadeloupe, the Covid threatens the start of the school year
From this point of view, everyone is now looking overseas, where the situation is critical.
A defense council was held in the morning of this Wednesday, August 25 on the subject.
The government has finally decided to postpone the start of the school year to September 13 in Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy, as well as in the part of Guyana in the red zone.
Objective: 600,000 tests per week in schools
On screening at primary school, where students under 12 cannot be vaccinated, the ministry has a target of 600,000 tests per week.
Question: will families subscribe to this screening?
Read also School year 2021: what do the 4 levels of the health protocol correspond to?
In middle and high school, 57% of those over 12 have already received a first dose of the vaccine (and 32% both). The objective is to exceed the 60% of a complete vaccination at the start of the school year. This vaccination should then
"take place as quickly as possible by All Saints' Day"
. Students will be vaccinated in vaccinodromes, in ephemeral centers set up near establishments or within establishments. 700 educational assistants will be recruited to deal with this situation.
If the issue of ventilation of the premises, equipment in CO2 sensors and air purifiers was raised, the ministry has not really set a proactive policy or a method, according to Unsa.
It will therefore be up to local communities to manage the issue.
And to finance this equipment.
"School is not above ground"
Responses that do not fully meet the expectations of unions.
Thus, if the SNUipp, which held its back-to-school conference on Tuesday, August 24, wants to be optimistic about the start of the school year itself, it does not hide its concern over the following weeks.
“The school is not above ground;
it is a place of contamination like any other.
There is a strong start that she will be disturbed from the first weeks.
We will have to be very careful, ”
insists Guislaine David, spokesperson and co-secretary general.
Read also Back to school: the first primary school union calls for a strengthening of the health protocol
Believing that
"the sanitary measures are not sufficient"
- in particular on the canteens, the playgrounds and the ventilation of the classrooms -, she calls for a strengthening of the sanitary protocol. Finally, she insists on setting up a real screening campaign in primary school.
"Why not set up systematic weekly [saliva, editor's note] tests at home, as is the case in other European countries, for example in Austria?"
she asks.
