"The State is opposed to the principle of equality between public pupils and non-contractual establishments"

Anne Coffinier, president of the Create your school association.

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Mathis Alesio Capolini is 16 years old.

He is a French junior Taekwondo champion.

This high school student defends the colors of France on tatami mats around the world and brings honor to our country.

To reach this level without sacrificing his school studies in which he excels, this top athlete has chosen a school that offers him the organizational flexibility necessary for his success.

It is an independent private school (also called out of contract): the Diagonal high school, in Lyon.

This school allows him to participate in training and competitions in good conditions, by setting up a flexible system of remedial lessons and coaching.

The Lycée Diagonale is one of nearly 2,000 independent schools that educate more than 85,000 students in France.

But there.

Mathis has just learned that he will ultimately not be able to participate in the major international sporting event that is the Gymnasiade Normandie 2022, when he has already been officially selected by the French Taekwondo Federation and the National Union of Sport. School.

This situation unfortunately illustrates a situation of sclerosis of the administration, which too often loses sight of the good of the pupils and the interest of the Nation to lock itself in a formalism hostile to life and common sense.

Anne Coffinier

For obscure administrative reasons, the National Education therefore bars without qualms the road to victory for Mathis and deprives France of its champion.

The young athlete has just asked the President of the Republic, in a very dignified video, to restore justice as quickly as possible, especially since the competition is being held in barely a month!

This shocking situation is not an isolated malfunction.

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This affair is in addition to many other incidents, which stem from an openly ideological posture of the administration of National Education with regard to independent private schools.

Some Ministry officials seem locked into an anachronistic conception of school, which wants to systematically oppose public and private, children of the rich and children of the poor, denominational schools and secular schools...

Today, Mathis pays.

It pays for centuries of badly extinguished ideological quarrels, maintained by office managers who have not seen society change.

Young parents today

to be able to choose the school for their children.

They want their child's uniqueness to be not only recognized, but also valued.

They favor the model of independent schools which, in their great diversity, offer more flexibility in the choice of methods and programs, more attention and personalized support for each child, more consideration for families, more room for innovation, without turning its back on the transmission requirement too often abandoned by public schools.

Whether we like it or not, independent private schools embody the spirit of initiative and the dream of freedom of citizens in the face of a state that is too often crushing.

Anne Coffinier

Symmetrically, teachers feel less and less recognized in National Education.

Candidates for National Education competitions are becoming increasingly rare, gloom is expressed, when it does not result in resignations.

The more the public school is in difficulty, the more the National Education turns against any alternative to what it offers.

Thus, it still prohibits students from independent private high schools from entering the General Competition or the National Science Olympiads;

it still and always prevents students with disabilities from having access to accompanying persons for students with disabilities (AESH) financed by public funds.

For students in independent schools, it makes it almost impossible to access social grants.

It condemns them to pass a more difficult baccalaureate with many final tests where the students of public high schools validate it without difficulty thanks to 40% of the points acquired in continuous assessment... And we could cite many other discriminations and hassles...

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What equality and what fraternity does the State guarantee in truth when it prevents secondary schools in independent private establishments from accessing national diplomas, national and international contests and competitions under the same conditions as other students?

On the eve of this new five-year term, the French Republic must remember that the word freedom is in its motto and on the frontispieces of its temples, put an end to these unwelcome discriminations and let society breathe through its school!