While the Head of State wanted to go back to school this Friday, September 1 in Orange (Vaucluse) on the theme of his vocational high school reform, his trip was faced with the frustration of teachers. The latter complained about the salaries which they consider to be tiny, while Emmanuel Macron, surrounded in particular by the Minister of National Education Gabriel Attal, tried to defend his measures towards the teachers.
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Surrounded by two of his ministers, including Gabriel Attal, the president wanted to talk about training and professional integration, around a theme: the vocational high school. In this new school year, it is the launch of a reform in these establishments that he himself announced last May. Objective: restore this sector often synonymous with school failure.
But the teachers obviously had other concerns: It’s hard to start a family, even if there is an appreciation, it’s really not enough : with professional expenses, I can’t even reach the Smic at the end of the year “Launched a teacher, applauded by his colleagues.
But the President of the Republic preferred to retain the efforts that have been made in recent years: “ Nothing equivalent had been done on the upgrading for 30 years. As I speak to you, there is no longer a single teacher in France who is less than 2,000 euros. I say this because I hear that there are costs which are linked to your personal situation, but I would not like the idea to settle down that we pay the minimum wage or less than the minimum wage for teachers in the country: this is not true. »
The Minister of Education, Gabriel Attal, flew to the aid of the Head of State, taking out the calculator: “ If we take from September 2022 to September 2023, it is 125 euros net more per month for everyone, without additional mission. » « Yes, it is important, it is not conditional on some additional mission », agrees Emmanuel Macron.
But obviously the audience is not convinced. A general education teacher grabs the microphone: The pay slips are extremely unsatisfactory. This is what sets the tone for this return to school, when inflation rebounded this summer and purchasing power remains the number one concern of the French.
Read alsoIncrease in teachers’ salaries: “We are on a form of deception”
The government wants to be “intractable” on the ban on the abaya in schools
During his return, Emmanuel Macron took the opportunity to tackle the subject of the ban on wearing the abaya in schools in France, five days after the announcement of the measure by Mr. Attal. The President of the Republic reacted earlier while he was visiting a vocational high school in Vaucluse and warned: the government will be ” intractable ” on the subject.
The French president wants to be “intractable” on the ban on the abaya in schools
In France, three days before the start of the school year, the Ministry of National Education has published a note for school heads, specifying the procedure to follow in the event of wearing of qamis and abaya by a student. The two traditional clothes are now banned in class, the ministry believing that they ostensibly manifest the religious affiliation of the students who wear them.
Until there, the rules were too vague to intervene according to the SNPDEN, the majority union of school heads. Radouane M’Hamdi is his departmental secretary for Seine-Saint-Denis, north of Paris, he is himself a high school principal and has sometimes lacked the elements to convince students.
“These instructions meet our expectations, we were waiting for this clarification”, explains Radouane M’Hamdi, departmental secretary of the NPDEN, the majority union of school heads.