“Fewer and fewer French people are going to check, even though it’s fantastic,” says Aurore Bergé on the French TV channel France 2.
Bergé, new family minister in Macron’s government, wants to create a so-called “collopass” for next summer which will provide financial support of up to 350 euros, just over 4,000 kroner, to families who choose to send their children to a summer holiday camp.
— We all have memories from our kollons. It creates collective memories, it is a social mix where we meet people who are different from ourselves. In addition, you have access to nature, sports activities and culture, says Bergé.
Well many
The support will reach about 80 percent of French children, according to Bergé, because it is given to parents who earn up to 4,000 euros per month (about 46,000 kroner).
— This means that the support does not only reach financially vulnerable families, but also middle-class families, says the minister.
The interest in sending one’s children to a colony has decreased in recent decades. About 1.4 million French schoolchildren went to a colony in 2019, according to the French state. That’s a far cry from the four million children who spent a couple of weeks of their summer vacation at school during the “golden age” of the 60s.
Painful question
According to a report by the French opinion institute IFOP, one of the reasons for the reduced interest in the parcel is the cost, that middle-class families cannot benefit from financial support.
According to Bergé, approximately one in four children in France lacks the opportunity to go on holiday during the summer holidays.
— When the children come back to school after the holidays, the first question that is often asked is: what did you do during the holidays? For many children, it is painful to be asked that question, says Bergé.