They were blocked by a police cordon at the end of Rue de Bellechasse, 200 metres from the Ministry of National Education in Paris. This Wednesday afternoon, several dozen people (parents, students, teachers, educational staff, elected officials) gathered near the rue de Grenelle, asking to be received at the ministry in order to obtain additional resources for national education in Seine-Saint-Denis.
Several establishments in Aubervilliers, Montreuil and Villemomble had made the trip. "The rectorate has planned to take away 80 hours from our overall hourly allocation at the beginning of the next school year, details an English teacher at the Henri-Wallon high school in Aubervilliers. They tell us that it will not change our working conditions, but that is not what emerges from our calculations. We will go from 30 to 35 students in 1st and final year next year. We welcome fragile young people, who are in complicated social situations that we sometimes have a duty to report. There is a risk that we will miss some things. Also, as an English teacher, I don't see how I'm going to be able to get 35 students to participate in a modern language class. I don't even know how I'm going to write them down orally. »
Young people from the school, present at the demonstration, denounced the fact that there is not enough room to accommodate more high school students in the classrooms. "Some rooms are equipped for 20 students. We are already very tight, we do not even know how we will be able to return. »
Several teachers have also called for enrolment not to exceed 24 students per class in the department. "At Collège Gisèle-Halimi in Aubervilliers, we do not agree with the calculations made by the administration. We are in the reinforced priority education network, but we are talking about 26 or 27 students, not counting allophones and those affected by a disability, schooled in specialized units. They are not counted in the numbers, while they have many times of inclusion in class with other students, "laments a teacher.
A human chain in Pantin, Saturday
The reform of the vocational high school, which has just been announced by the President of the Republic, also worries the educational community. "Students will have to choose their field according to the needs of companies and not what they want to do. They will have to do more internships, paid by the State in addition, so with our taxes! All this to please companies, "criticizes a staff of the establishment, which has been mobilizing for ten days to demand the cancellation of this reform.
"Vocational high schools are becoming an interim agency for cheap labor, it's crazy what is happening," denounces Alixe Rivière, administrator of the parents' association FCPE 93. In Seine-Saint-Denis, more than 18,000 students are enrolled in vocational high schools.
"The lack of resources in the National Education does not improve with time, points out Clémentine Autain, MP (LFI) who attended with her parliamentary colleagues (Eric Coquerel, Alexis Corbière and Raquel Garrido) the demonstration. The global unravelling continues, the Cornut-Gentille report had already shown that the State gave less to Seine-Saint-Denis than to other departments. The rectorate states that the ministry allocates resources based on staff, not on the budget mass. However, in our department, professors are often younger or contracted, so they cost less. »
No delegation was received at the ministry on Wednesday. A new local action is planned next Saturday, in Pantin, where groups of parents plan, as last year, to form a human chain along the Canal de l'Ourcq to denounce in particular the non-replacement of absent teachers.