Covid: unions denounce “the mess” in schools and call for a strike

Can the school hold up with cracking parents and teachers? “ It’s very hard “, confides a rector, while more than 9,200 classes were closed Thursday evening, a record since the spring. In establishments, the “mess” described by teachers and school principals has led most unions to announce a call for a strike for January 13, in the first and second degrees. Even the main union of headteachers, the SNPDEN-Unsa, “associates” with the strike, pushed by its federation, when it was considering Friday evening not to do so.

In the first degree, the unions are calling for a return to the old protocol which provided for the closure of a class from the first case of Covid, a rule deemed “protective” by the main primary school union. The SNUipp-FSU, which deplores “an indescribable mess” and “a strong feeling of abandonment and anger among staff”, also calls for the isolation of intra-family contact cases and to systematize preventive saliva tests every week.

“Completely overwhelmed”

In schools, teachers and directors say they are “Completely overwhelmed” by the multiplication of cases. National Education lightened the health protocol on Thursday evening: students will no longer have to carry out a new complete screening course if a new positive case appears in their class within less than seven days.

Parents of students also crack when they have to test their child every two days, pick him up urgently from school, or find it “unmanageable” to have to queue for several hours in front of the pharmacies: “You have to pick up your child, the tests and the pharmacies are taken by storm, the wait is painful, and in general, the self-tests are not given as planned in the pharmacies”, according to the vice-president from the Peep parents’ federation, Laurent Zameczkowski. “Parents may support some teachers’ demands, but this strike will only add to the difficulties of students and parents “, He says in a tweet.

“Extremely difficult” to live for families

The government spokesman, Gabriel Attal, announced on Sunday “a plan to strengthen” testing capacities, with in particular the deployment of “several hundred” screening centers near the centers of vaccination and the delivery to pharmacies this week of 10 million self-tests which will be added to the 6 million in stock.

The protocol is “extremely difficult” for families to live with, recognized Friday the Minister of National Education, on CNews. On the teachers’ side, “about 8%” are sick but the peak of absences “should not normally exceed 15%”, according to Jean-Michel Blanquer. “It’s a mess, loose Nageate Belhaçen, co-president of the main federation of parents of students, the FCPE. The parents are completely cracking up, because for those who work, it becomes very complicated, they run everywhere. “

“Of course it’s hard, of course it’s complicated”, admits Jean-Michel Blanquer, while considering that the tests are the price to pay to maintain the open schools.

The baccalaureate, again in turmoil

In the second degree, the main union, the SNES-FSU, calls for a strike to demand the recruitment of adults and a reinforced protocol. He also wants a postponement of the baccalaureate specialty tests from March to June, considering that the teachers are not able to prepare students well.

“There is still time to temporize, considers on the contrary Bruno Bobkiewicz, at the head of the main union of heads of establishment (SNPDEN-Unsa), who criticizes “those who want to kill the tank from the beginning”. “It may be necessary to consider adjustments, and not necessarily a cancellation or a postponement, he adds. But everything will depend on the duration of the epidemic. »

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