[GREVE EDUCATION NATIONALE]. The SNUipp-FSU, the first primary union, foresees 75% of striking teachers and half of the schools closed this Thursday, January 13, to protest against the health protocol deemed “unmanageable”.
“My children’s school is closing this Thursday, I will keep them at home and work from home “, says Stéphanie, mother of two children aged 5 and 7, who attend primary school. La strike scheduled for Thursday, January 13 to protest against the school health protocol, amended on several occasions and deemed “unmanageable” by the teachers’ unions, seems particularly followed. This Tuesday, January 11, the SNUipp-FSU, the first primary school union, believes that more than three quarters of primary school teachers will be absent of classes and half of the schools will be closed this Thursday. “This mobilization, historic in its scope over the last twenty years, is not” a strike against the virus “but illustrates the growing fed up in schools“specifies the union in a press release.
“You don’t go on strike against a virus”
The union is also outraged by the words of Jean-Michel Blanquer and “the permanent lies of the Minister of Education “, who said on Tuesday on BFMTV thatwe “do not go on strike against a virus”. I know there is a lot of fatigue, a lot of nervousness, so I appeal both to the coolness, to the unity of the Nation around his school“, he added.” IThere are problems, I am the first to admit it, it is difficult but it is difficult in all the countries (…) As I express the hope that this is our last wave, it would be a shame to divide in this last straight line which is very hard, very complicated for all the actors“, added the Minister of National Education. The day before, the Prime Minister tried to reassure. Invited in the JT of France 2 this January 10, Jean Castex announced three new measures for parents and students: three self-tests are now sufficient to be tested on D0, D2 and D4 (there is therefore no longer the obligation to go through a first PCR or antigen test); only one certificate is necessary to prove that their child is negative, and finally, parents can wait until the school trip time to come and pick up their child contact case at school.
But the unions above all demand more safety at school. This Thursday, January 13 will be a “white day” warned the Federation of Parents’ Councils (FCPE), which recommends that parents not send their children to school, in order to denounce the various health protocols imposed by the Ministry of National Education. “It is time for the school to become again a protected place and not the adjustment variable of a health policy in crisis”, denounces the FCPE in a press release dated January 10. She claims more means to protect students, such as CO2 sensors, soap, masks, as well as “massive screening campaigns, especially saliva, every week especially in kindergarten where children do not wear masks, but also in all schools with dedicated health personnel “.
This Friday, January 7, the SNUipp-FSU, the majority union in nursery and elementary schools, and the SE-Unsa for schools, colleges and high schools had already called on teachers to strike on January 13 to denounce a protocol deemed “unmanageable”. Indeed, the new measures were announced the day before the start of the school year, and three days after the start of the January 3, the health protocol was again modified to cope with the numerous closures of classes and schools. “The Minister does not take the measure of the situation and is pleased to keep the schools open at all costs“believes the SNUipp-FSU. Result: parents, teachers, students and unions get lost in it, between positive cases and contact cases, repeated self-tests and class closings. If the government wants above all to keep schools open, the unions are calling for more safety at school.
“A chaos, an indescribable mess”
“The situation since the start of the January school year has created an indescribable mess and a strong feeling of abandonment and anger among school staff” denounces the union, which therefore calls on “school staff to go on strike on Thursday, January 13, to chaos but also to contempt and lies, to obtain the conditions of a secure school under Omicron “.
► For more safety at school, the unions are calling for “the return to the protective rule ‘one positive case = closure of the class’, the isolation of intra-family contact cases and a policy of systematic weekly preventive saliva tests”. They also ask that Education staff be equipped with surgical masks and FFP2 for those who wish. “Self-tests must be provided to them and classrooms and catering rooms equipped with CO2 sensors” adds Snuipp.
According to the union, “the minister claims to keep the schools open but the government’s political choice is to ensure the reception of students, to allow parents to go to work, at the expense of the health of staff and that of children. , their families. In the field, the reality is quite different, directors and teachers can no longer properly exercise their teaching missions, “he concludes.