It is a large-scale strike that is scheduled for Thursday, January 13, 2022 in the National Education. All over France, teachers are called upon to take to the streets during an unprecedented day of mobilization. Half of the schools could be closed in the country.
The essential
- After the fiasco of the health protocols in force in the schools, modified several times in a few days, the teachers decided to be heard and to go on strike this Thursday, January 13, 2022.
- It is a “historic” day of mobilization which is expected: 75% of primary school teachers would be on strike and half of the establishments would be closed everywhere in France.
- At the origin of this call, the union SNUipp-FSU. He was joined by most of the other teachers’ unions: FCPE, SE-UNSA, SNES-FSU, Snalc, CGT Educ’action, SUD Education, FO and SGEN-CFDT. The FCPE, the parents’ federation, also saw fit to call for support for this movement and asked parents not to put their children in school.
- Follow this day of mobilization live on our site.
Live
09:10 – In the absence of recruitment, “the system cracks”
If the repeated changes in health protocols in schools is the straw that broke the camel’s back, teachers and union representatives explain that the strike movement also aims to denounce the lack of investment in schools, in particular the lack of recruitment. “We have not recruited for 5 years. So, today, the system cracks! We cannot replace a professor sick with Covid”, exasperated Pierre Priouret, academic secretary of Snes-FSU at the microphone of Sud Radio. And to add: “It is the consequence of a political choice which has been made for years”.
09:00 – 82% strikers in schools in Haute-Garonne
While at the national level, the mobilization was announced as “historic”, the local lifts report a particularly followed strike, especially in Haute-Garonne. “We have a third of schools in Haute-Garonne who responded to our departmental survey. 2,500 colleagues responded: we have 82% of strikers. We have not seen that since December 5, 2019 with the mobilization on pensions … “, indicates Alexia Séguin, co-secretary of SNUipp 31 – FSU 31 to Toulouse news, which evokes a general exasperation: “It is true that the trigger is this umpteenth health protocol (against the Covid-19, editor’s note) that we know a few hours before the resumption. But there are also five years educational policy… “
The SNES-FSU is also enthusiastic. “We announced the strike in the weekend, and the hotline was stormed Monday afternoon, to find out where the demonstrations were in the academy … We had not even had time to discuss in inter-union. It’s rare when colleagues call us four days before to find out where the demonstrations are. There, it happened very repeatedly, “said Pierre Priouret, the secretary general.
08:48 – Where will the demonstrations take place?
Many demonstrations will take place all over France, this Thursday. If the main ones should take place in Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Lille or even Toulouse, processions should parade in various cities during the afternoon. Find out here the map listing the majority of organized events.
08:42 – “We may have advanced 5m on a 100m run”
Teachers are generally fed up, two years after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. On Public Senate, Sophie Vénétitay, Secretary General of SNES-FSU, detailed, on Wednesday, the feelings of most teachers when faced with the management of the crisis in schools: “This ability to focus the debate on an extremely binary vision, open school or closed school, for us, as teachers, that is not the debate. What we said is open school with adapted protocols, with adapted security and Jean-Michel Blanquer spoke stopped at ‘open school’. Every time we have said, we need means to secure the school and protect students and adults, we have never had an answer or so late. It’s been 20 months since ‘We’re asking for surgical masks. Jean Castex announced it after 20 months of the pandemic. We’ve been talking about ventilation for 20 months, talking about CO2 sensors. We have perhaps advanced 5m over a 100m race “.
08:32 – Eric Zemmour supports the strike
On France 2, Eric Zemmour said to support the strike carried out in the National Education this Thursday. “I consider the teachers’ strike to be legitimate, the government is rotting the lives of children and teachers,” he said.
08:26 – “A strike against a form of contempt”
Guest on Franceinfo Thursday morning, Laurent Berger, secretary general of the CFDT, explained the reasons for the protest movement: “This is not a strike against the virus, it is a strike against the lack of consultation, against a form of contempt , the discovery of health protocol the day before the start of the school year, the change of the rules permanently “.
At the call of the unions, teachers are called to leave the classes to demonstrate in the street. Processions must start in the big cities of France. It is in Paris, Lyon and Marseille that the processions should be the most extensive this Thursday, January 13, 2022. The Unsa Education union has put online a map of France with all the demonstrations of teachers identified for this day of the 13 January. We relay it below:
- In Paris, the procession must start at 2 p.m. in the Luxembourg Gardens, where the Senate sits. It is in this hemicycle that the text of the law on the health pass is examined this week.
- AT Lyon the procession will leave at 2 p.m. from the DSDEN du Rhône to the prefecture.
- AT Marseilles, the demonstrators leave at 10:30 am from the Porte d’Aix
- AT Lille, start of the event at 2:30 p.m. Porte de Paris
- AT Bordeaux, the procession sets off at 12 noon Place de la Victoire
- AT Nantes, the event starts at 11 am Place du Maréchal Foch
Why are the teachers going on strike this Thursday, January 13?
The very active circulation of the epidemic and the multiplication of cases of contamination and contact cases has pushed the government to establish a braking strategy articulated around tests. If a case of Covid is detected in a class, all students must carry out 3 self-tests over 5 days. Despite the relaxations made to the school health protocol (no PCR test, no renewal of the process within 7 days in particular), the unions believe that the government is basing the effort to counter the epidemic in an untenable manner on children and the teaching body. “It’s a puzzle,” Nageate Belahcen denounced on France Info, which listed several very concrete demands: “We are asking for additional material resources to protect students and educational staff. […] We are also asking for surgical masks for students, it becomes a budget for families. We are asking for either priority slots for students and their families, or saliva tests. We ask that the school budget be a priority because the situation demands it. “The FCPE also requests that CO2 sensors and air purifiers be installed in the establishments and wants the executive to remove all administrative obstacles: “We are between a rock and a hard place, meaning that the government refers us to the communities and the communities refers us to the government. It is not for us to make this kind of decision, “argued Nageate Belahcen.
The CGT does not say anything else, in its press release posted online on its website : “Despite an unprecedented amplification of the epidemic, the School does not benefit from the protective organization that would be necessary to ensure the safety of students, staff and their families. pedagogical arrangements make learning conditions difficult. A shortage of replacements, management of tests and student absences greatly degrades working conditions “.
Jean-Michel Blanquer, the Minister of National Education, regrets that teachers are giving up lessons this Thursday, January 13. “I know there is a lot of fatigue, nervousness. […] It’s a shame to have a day that will further disrupt the system “, he commented on BFMTV on Wednesday, considering that” we do not strike against a virus “.