The Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, was the guest of the morning of France Inter, Monday, March 5. The opportunity to decide on several issues. Small catch-up session with the main statements to remember.
A few weeks after a first visit hailed in the political broadcast on France 2 , Jean-Michel Blanquer was the guest of the morning of France Inter, Monday. Before going to Dijon, accompanied by Brigitte Macron for a visit on the subject of harassment at school, the Minister of Education returned to several files in progress. Here is what we can remember.
On the ban on mobile phones
Jean-Michel Blanquer has confirmed that mobile phones will be banned in public colleges as soon as next fall . With some freedom for the institutions in the application of this new rule. “We will leave the colleges to choose between several modes of prohibition that range from the most flexible to the hardest,” he says. “The most flexible version, as it also exists in certain colleges, is to be able to enclose it in a small specific bag inside the schoolbag to be able to leave it if there are pedagogical uses, if there are emergencies.And the hard part: you can not come with your mobile phone, “ he said.
The internal regulations of the institutions prohibit the use of laptops in class, but not in the precincts of a college because it amounts to attack public liberties. So you have to change the law. “This will be the subject of a legislative article […] in the coming weeks,” said the minister. For it to be legally seated “ .
On classes in rural areas
“I am the first supporter of rural schools. We need it. We are working to preserve them, “insists Jean-Michel Blanquer. According to the minister, the start of 2018 will be with the creation of 3,800 additional positions of teachers of schools throughout France, despite the demographic decline of 32,000 students in primary, especially in rural areas. These creations will be accompanied by the closure of “200 to 300 classes” in the countryside.
But “we open more classes that one farm” , qualifies the Minister. “You have to make the difference between closing school and closing schools,” herecalls. Class closures, there have been and there will always be, it’s normal, there are movements of people. There is nothing wrong with what is happening today. “I was even questioned in the Assembly by deputies protesting against this so-called rural sacrifice and it was departments where jobs are created,” headds.
Several rural departments show indeed class creations – especially with the split of the CP and CE1 in priority education – but these openings take place in the cities of these departments, argue the unions and elected officials of these areas. They believe that this policy of duplication in priority education, which they support, is to the detriment of the classes in the countryside. “I am currently engaged in a policy of reconquest of the rural world, we will create rural boarding schools , answers Jean-Michel Blanquer. Each time, it is the student’s interest that must prevail. ” ” We must pay attention to speeches that come from the right and the left, which are to oppose rural to urban ” , he concluded.
On the police presence in schools
The minister was also asked about the experiment that will start in Nice, where unarmed municipal police will invest the schools . Is the generalization of this measure conceivable? “No, the idea is not that , “ said Jean-Michel Blanquer, recalling the context related to the attack of July 14, 2016 in the Riviera .
“It’s not something I push . ” But “the school-police relationship is a very important subject. We are constantly talking about the bad relationship between the police and the young people. The trusting state of mind between society and its public forces seems to me something that works in school. We need to play down this relationship without the emergence of police forces everywhere. “
Along the length of the summer holidays
Questioned about this by an auditor, Jean-Michel Blanquer wanted “very careful” . “It’s a file that’s open. It will not change tomorrow morning, it may change in the medium term after long discussions with many interlocutors. My goal is that holidays and extracurricular periods become more and more rich cultural and sporting proposals, hesays. In particular, we need a renewal of summer camps “ .
Find the full interview on France Inter below:
