The Minister of National Education is at the heart of a controversy surrounding the schooling of her children at the Stanislas private school after a brief stint in the public sector.
Eventful arrival at the Ministry of National Education for Amélie Oudéa-Castéra. Since her appointment, the minister has been at the heart of a controversy which made her sadly known to the general public in a few days. Mediapart’s revelations about the schooling of its children at the Stanislas school, a private establishment highlighted by a National Education report, initially raised questions. When the minister justified herself by criticizing unreplaced absences from public schools, she unleashed a real storm.
The matter did not escape the French. Thus, 44% of people questioned by a BVA Xsight survey for RTL believe that Amélie Oudéa-Castéra should resign from the government. Only 42% think she should stay in office. The survey was conducted shortly after the press conference ofEmmanuel MacronTuesday January 16, during which the head of state nevertheless defended his minister without naming her.
A complaint for defamation
“I am a child of both schools, as the great authors say,” Macron declared, referring to a song by Michel Sardou. “I have been to the secular and to the private school under contract, I have seen committed teachers there to whom I owe a lot. So, I think that there is no conflict between the two schools at to have.” The president called for not judging “people by their individual choices.”
Amélie Oudéa-Castéra is now the subject of a complaint for defamation, filed by the National Union of Public Employees of National Education (SNAPEN). To justify her choice of a private school for her children, the minister expressed her “frustration” in the face of “lots of hours which were not seriously replaced” at the Parisian public school Littré, where her eldest had been schooled for a few months. Subsequently, the former teacher of the minister’s son denied having been absent, ensuring that the child’s departure to the private sector was motivated by a disagreement over his move to the higher class.