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More than 12 million students in France have returned to school despite growing concerns over new, more contagious variants of the Covid-19 virus and the country’s late vaccination campaign.
While countries like the UK have delayed the reopening of primary and secondary schools after the Christmas break, France has moved ahead.
On Sunday, Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer promised that schools would reopen “as planned” with a “reinforced health protocol” including more tests in high schools.
“We are always able to make adjustments in the future if necessary,” he told BFM TV. “We remain vigilant”, but “the return to school can be organized”.
Some doctors as well as parent-teacher associations questioned the wisdom of the government’s decision.
“As the situation worsens in the UK and Ireland, let’s not make the same mistake Italy made in the first wave,” tweeted medical professor Antoine Flauhaut. “Do not reopen schools in January, but vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate first.”
Even the head of public health of France, Jerome Salomon, has expressed reservations.
“The children are coming back from different places, in France and abroad,” Salomon told JDD newspaper on Sunday. “This could reshuffle the maps regarding the epidemiological situation.”
Describing the trend in the number of infections as “worrying”, Salomon also highlighted the risks associated with new variants of the virus identified in the United Kingdom and South Africa. #
According to recent research by British scientists, the strains are thought to be more contagious than the original strain in all age groups, including children and young people.
“We are very attentive to what is going on in schools and universities,” Salomon said.
Blanquer said the health protocol could be “stepped up” in schools and more testing would be done, but rejected the option of closing schools as in the first lockdown from March to May 2020.
High school, university
The majority of high school students have been following a mixture of distance and on-site learning since the beginning of November. A third have kept the courses on-site, but these are largely vocational high schools with a lot of studio study and smaller class sizes.
Blanquer said he wanted all high schools to resume teaching on-site from January 20. He insisted that “everything” would be done to ensure that “the deadline is respected”, while taking into account the evolution of the virus.
Most university students are currently taking distance learning courses, but the government is keen to see the most vulnerable come back “as soon as possible”. The preferred model is to have around 50 percent of the number of students on site at all times, with groups of 10 students in tutorials.
The Minister of Higher Education and Research, Frédérique Vidal, asked university rectors to give priority to students who have just entered higher education and who are in a “very vulnerable situation”.
Blanquer said the course of action could vary from region to region.
“If the situation worsens in certain departments, we could take specific measures. At this stage, however, this is not contemplated. “
On Saturday, the government tightened the curfew in 15 departments in eastern and south-eastern France that are most affected by the virus.
Vaccination
France stepped up its vaccination campaign this weekend after being strongly criticized, even by President Macron, for its slowness.
Vaccination of the elderly in retirement homes began on December 27 and, on Monday, France launched the vaccination campaign for health workers over 50 years old.
The education minister said he hoped teachers, as key workers, could be vaccinated as soon as possible: “In March at the latest, it would be good if we could do that.”
Asked about the government’s vaccination strategy, he said much attention was being paid to “getting people’s consent.”
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