More and more parents admit to signing sworn statements without having carried out a self-test on their child, especially if they have no symptoms… every two days”, to leave them a little “quiet”, or to be able to go to work. Testimonials.
Since the start of the school year on January 3, the health protocol at school has continued to evolve. Classes no longer close with the first case of Covid-19, but students are screened more. Initially, the children had to carry out a first antigen or PCR test (on D0), then two self-tests, two days apart (D+2 and D+4). To “simplify” the life of parents, the government has announced that three self-tests would be sufficient, with a single sworn statement instead of three to be presented at school, to be able to return to class.
“The problem is that children have to do self-tests every other day, but all the time because when they return to school, another case is detected, and so on”, explains Sabrina, mother of two children in Toulouse. “It seems like it never stops, the children are fed up and the parents too”, she adds. Antonin, one of his 8-year-old children, is even “traumatized” by all these “cotton swabs in the nose”. “It’s stress, he’s afraid of it!”, She testifies.
Children cry, struggle, scream to death
On social networks, a pharmacy assistant had launched the alert by denouncing the tests at all costs, when the first test had to be carried out by a professional. “The children cry, struggle, howl to death, are held down by their parents, too, at the end of their tether” declares this health professional who deplores having become the one ” who makes children cry ” and who ” martyrizes them “. “Sometimes I refuse to test a child under these conditions, and that’s when the parent begs me crying to test and inflict this suffering on his child or he won’t be able to go back to school and the parent has to work. So the child has to go to school the next day. Sometimes the child is positive, and then I see parents panicking, crying, scolding, punishing and threatening the child who “didn’t pay enough attention in school”. Sometimes I have to refuse to test, because I don’t have time” she testifies.
Sabrina: “I have decided not to inflict any more tests on my children”
After scrupulously following the contact tracing protocol, Sabrina decided not to “make her children suffer anymore”. “I don’t self-test them anymore, unless I notice they have symptoms. When they are in contact, I sign a sworn statement so they can go back to school,” she confides to us. “Anyway, there are cases constantly, it never ends”. Her son, he begs her not to do a self-test and promises not to spill the beans to his teacher.
Jennifer: “I’m pretending to give my son the self-test”
Jennifer, a mother from Lyon, has three children, two of whom go to primary school, and a baby who is just 8 months old. It is rather not for vaccination, and even less for the repetitive tests to be subjected to the little ones. However, she does not want her son to be forced to lie at school. “The children are conditioned, the teachers really explain to them how and why to be tested. He would not understand why at home, we do not follow the instructions. So I pretend to give him a self-test: I take the cotton swab and I don’t stick it in his nose. I tell him “don’t worry, just at the edge, that’s enough and it works very well”. We then wait for the result together, negative. My son is happy to be able to find his friends, and all I have to do is print him his sworn statement”, she explains.
Other parents have also testified on social networks or in other media such as Charlotte, who confided to the newspaper Le Figaro, thatshe will not “have her daughter tested every time she is in contact”. Another mother refuses to send her child to school if there is a contact case, does not wish to do a self-test, nor a false certificate. She will eventually keep her child at home for 7 days if needed. On BFMTV, Matthieu Verdier, secretary general of the national school union in Occitania, admits that “cIt’s not easy, it makes you cry, and you’re not even sure you’ve done it well. So I can completely understand them”, he specifies. On the other hand, he denounces these false certificates written by the parents. “The more people don’t respect the rules, the longer it will last and the more there will be a general weariness for everyone.
Parents who send their children to school… even if they test positive
Some parents also do not hesitate to send their child back to school even knowing that he is positive for Covid-19… Because they have to go back to work. A practice particularly denounced on social networks.
A carnage in schools. Teachers keep asking for certificates from parents of covids. Some parents don’t even take the tests. They just sign the sworn statement.
— Martine Lorraine Aiphan (@Lilou5754) January 18, 2022
“My daughter’s best friend has an older sister with a rare genetic disease. I find that parents are selfish not to think of other more fragile students by acting in this way”, denounces Annie, mother of Lou, in the Yvelines department. Parents who pay attention and respect the rules are just as tired of the health constraints and self-tests to be subjected to their children, but the false certificates only amplify the tensions within schools.