Schools will be affected by intentional power cuts this winter. The government is planning a full load shedding plan for several hours and in certain regions. A first national test is also scheduled for Friday, December 9. Details.
This winter will no doubt be punctuated by Power cuts in certain areas of the territory, in housing and buildings, particularly in the schools. Even if for the moment nothing is certain, given the low temperatures announced for the season and to relieve the French electricity network, the government is already preparing the French for this scenario. This Thursday, the executive made public a circular addressed to the prefects to anticipate and prepare the populations and the territories for scheduled cuts, especially for January 2023. That same day, the Minister of Education, Pap Ndiaye, traveling to Educatech Expo in Paris, gave more details on the cuts that would affect schools: “The scheduled power cuts will indeed affect schools and educational establishments, according to three time slots: 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., 10 a.m. to noon and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The first two slots are the school slots, which are the most critical.” In the event of a cut in the morning, the Minister confirmed that he “there will be no school in the morning”. “The return of the pupils on the day concerned will take place at the beginning of the afternoon, with undoubtedly a meal which will nevertheless be provided for the pupils who are in the canteen”he specified.
What is the planned organization in the schools?
To help school leaders and educational teams“sheets will be sent to the schools, to be ready“, said Pap Ndiaye. In order to limit the inconveniences linked to these power outages, “children of priority personnel” who would be deprived of school can be accommodated in local schools which will be spared from the cuts“according to a scheme which was also tested during the health crisis”, detailed the Minister.
For now, “there is no map of these load shedding yetnor, of course, including for security reasons, priority structures”, but the government is working on it.
How many students will be affected?
It’s hard to say, there are no precise figures that have been announced yet. We just know that 60% of the population could be affected. So-called sensitive sites, such as hospitals, fire stations, gendarmeries, will escape these potential cuts. Schools do not fall under this criterion.
Faced with these partial announcements, some teacher unions are worried about what is looming. “The information arrives without having been worked on and raises a lot of questions”notably “methods of informing families” of students, explained Stéphane Crochet, secretary general of SE-Unsa to AFP.
A first cut test on December 9
At the national level, a first test will be carried out on the day of December 9th. Enedis and the RTE network (electricity transmission network) will be in charge of this operation. They plan cuts in certain areas depending on the lack of electricity production and the weather conditions in these territories. “It’s the dispatchers, our agents directing the electricity into the network, who will simulate load shedding with their computers. But it won’t really correspond to what will happen in the event of load shedding and there will be no load shedding effective this day”, reports RTE to BFM TV.