EDUCATION: “The goal is for 100% of school children and college students” to return, announced Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer
A large majority, but not all. More than 80% of schoolchildren and almost 75% of middle school students have returned to school since Monday in most academies, after three months of home schooling for some because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the ministry. of National Education. These figures, released on Wednesday, relate mainly to full-time recoveries, according to the ministry.
Monday, the Minister of National Education Jean-Michel Blanquer, had declared that “the objective is that 100% of schoolchildren and college students” return. On June 14th, President Emmanuel Macron announced that the resumption would take place on Monday “in a compulsory manner and according to the rules of normal presence”, with the exception of high schools.
Up because of the Brevet
According to the press release of the ministry this Wednesday, concerning the return to the schools, “certain territories (in particular rural) could have been confronted with difficulties related to the health protocol maintained in school transport”.
In college, “at the end of June, more children are present in class and more than in previous years at the same time,” said the ministry, adding that this finding is notable “particularly in disadvantaged areas”. Indeed, usually in college, the last two weeks of June are less crowded because of the holding of the Brevet tests.
Regional disparities
The average rates of pupils having returned to school can vary according to the academies and the zones of the same academy. Thus, in Paris, there are 83% of schoolchildren and more than 80% of middle school students present; in Créteil, more than 70% of school and college students; in Bordeaux, more than 85% of schoolchildren and more than 70% of middle school students; in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, 90% of schoolchildren and 85% of middle school students. In Lille, including in very disadvantaged areas, there are more than 75% of the pupils present in elementary school and more than 80% in middle school.
“Today, it is because we have very high quality school principals that we have been able to achieve complete school deconfinement and to be the country in Europe with the most students who returned to school after a deconfinement ”, welcomed Jean-Michel Blanquer today, during the examination of the bill on school directors in the Assembly.
