SCHOOL AND COVID. On January 21, the Ministry of Education delivered its weekly update on class closures in France. Consult the key figures on our special “school and covid” page.
[Mis à jour le 21 janvier 2022 à 10h35] How many classes are closed in France due to Covid? The Ministry of Education delivered its weekly Covid-19 situation report in schools this Friday, January 21. According to this update and its data, as of Thursday January 20 at 1 p.m., 18,786 classes closed during this week (note that classes closed for absence of teachers are also taken into account in the calculation). There are a total of 527,200 classes in France. It is therefore 3.56% of them that have closed.
Regarding school structures (public and private under contract), the ministry lists 152 that have closed out of 59,650, i.e. a proportion of 0.25%. Among them were 140 schools (out of 48,950), 11 colleges (out of 6,950) and 1 high school (out of 3,750). What about confirmed Covid cases?
- Students : 463,197 confirmed cases of Covid out of 12,223,000 students (+77,414 in 24 hours), i.e. 3.79%
- personal : 30,774 cases of Covid confirmed out of 1,201,500 personnel (+ 6,034 in 24 hours), i.e. 2.56%
These figures are “based on the voluntary declaration of the interested parties in respect of medical confidentiality”, specifies the Ministry of Education.
Why are some classes still closing?
The government changed the rules in early January regarding establishment closures. Previously, a class was closed as soon as three cases of Covid were identified; at the start of the school year in January, the general principle became that classes do not close and that children are tested as soon as a case of Covid is identified in the class. But it is clear that the classes are closing… The closures actually occur “depending on the situation”. “In the presence, for example, of a very large number of cases”, specified the services of the ministry.
Circulation of Covid in schools, government strategy… Answers
What is the circulation of the Covid at school in France? Does the government keep the same strategy? Could the health protocol in schools be lightened soon? Linternaute.com summarizes the useful answers in this special page.
At the end of the day of massive teachers’ strike of January 13 within the National Education (38.5% of strikers according to the ministry; 75% according to the first primary union), the Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer has made new announcements regarding the fight against Covid at school. Recruitment of replacements and reinforcement staff, FFP2 masks, mid-CP evaluations… Here is the summary of the main new formalized measures:
- Additional recruitments : more than 8,000 reinforcements in National Education have been announced “for the next few days and weeks” in order to deal with the health crisis, recalled Jean-Michel Blanquer on January 14. They must officiate, for the moment, until the end of the school year. In the first degree, 3,300 additional contractual teachers will be requisitioned until the end of the school year, he announced. In the first degree, it will also be appealed to the additional lists (those who have passed the teacher competition without being recruited) at the rate of “several hundred people”. In secondary education, the recruitment of 1,500 educational assistants (supervisors) is also planned until the end of the year. In the second degree constituencies, there are also 1,500 more administrative temporary workers who must come to the support of the National Education inspectors, themselves in support of the directors of schools in the management of the coronavirus. About 1500 mediators in the fight against Covid additional were also mentioned by the Minister of Education, guest of franceinfo on January 14.
- A distribution of FFP2 masks : the measure was “not necessarily desirable” according to the High Council for Public Health, insisted on underlining the Minister of Education on franceinfo on January 14, in particular because it is more difficult to teach with this type of masks. 5 million FFP2 masks must however be distributed, as a priority to teachers in nursery schools (young schoolchildren do not wear masks there), to AESH (accompanying students with disabilities) and to teachers with children with disabilities. disability status. The distribution must begin “the week of January 17 and be effective at the” end of the month “, detailed Jean-Michel Blanquer on January 14 on franceinfo. Two surgical masks per day must also be provided to teachers in general.
- Mid-CP evaluations postponed : CP mid-year assessments were scheduled to start the week of January 17. They are finally postponed “to a deadline which remains to be defined with the unions”.
- The postponement of the bac exams, studied : the Ministry of Education will study the possibility of postponing the baccalaureate specialty teaching tests, which normally take place in March. It is the possibility of postponing them to June which must be studied, in consultation with the “representative organizations” and the “council of high school life”.
What about air purifiers?
Regarding air purifiers, aka CO2 sensors to be installed in the classrooms, the minister pointed to a “constitutional rule” by evoking that the distribution of masks was made by the State because it is the employer, but that that of CO2 sensors is “under the jurisdiction of local authorities “. The fund of 20 million euros previously given by the State “is not yet fully consumed”, highlighted Jean-Michel Blanquer. “Our goal is in any case the generalization of sensors, and the State is in support of the communities for this”, affirmed the Minister of Education.
What is the level of Covid circulation at school in France? Here are the incidence rates (number of cases per 100,000) measured over the last rolling week by school level. The figures below are drawn up by Public Health France and taken from the Data.gouv website. If the automatic screening now in force at school obviously increases the scale of the figures, the latter nevertheless establish that the virus circulates widely in schools, at least as much as in the general population:
During a press conference on the measures to combat Covid-19 in France, on January 20, Prime Minister Jean Castex mentioned a possible reduction in the health protocol at school from the start of the school holidays in February, if the epidemic conditions allow it. More information on this point in our special page “Health protocol at school”:
The school is today at the heart of the management of the health crisis. The government sticks to a principle from which it does not want to derogate: everything must be done to keep schools open, despite the very active circulation of the epidemic of coronavirus. At a press conference on January 20, Prime Minister Jean Castex reaffirmed that the “choice” not to close the schools “was the right one”. “I saw the representatives of National Education staff and we made the necessary corrections, but nothing would have been worse than closing schools, or even delaying the start of the new school year. [de janvier 2022]. Because the reopening, given the surge in the number of cases, would have been very difficult”, he added. While he counted more than 17,000 classes closed on January 18, a high figure, he tempered by adding that this figure represented “3.2% of classes in France”.