You have received trade unions and parents’ federations. What is your message ?
It is twofold. First of all, sharing the feelings of the authorities and my personal feelings after the Conflans tragedy. Then, my unfailing support in their educational mission.
Jean-Michel Blanquer delivered a figure, less than 1,000 alarming situations, according to him. What about in the academy?
The number of challenges to secularism and radicalizations remains very moderate. We exercise extreme vigilance on the lifts which are systematically processed.
However, some school principals prefer to keep incidents silent, do not organize disciplinary boards …
If so, it is not normal. The message, upon my arrival, was very clear, following the remarks made by Jean-Michel Blanquer: do not put anything under the carpet. It’s a principle. I reminded management staff in a letter of November 4, 2019, in which I explicitly mention the attacks on the values of the Republic. I say it again: you must act. The tools exist: disciplinary boards, functional protection, filing a complaint.
In 2015, in Charleville-Mézières, a principal excluded a student who wore Islamic clothing. It is supported by the rector and the ministry. But in Alsace, the rector is suspending a drawing teacher who had shown the caricatures of Mohammed in Mulhouse …
Since 2017, the minister’s speech has been very clear. I will be too: against the enemies of democracy and the Republic, I will support teachers and heads of establishments without fail. I refuse to let things get stuck when the going is tough. When a principal in Moselle was accused in a recent harassment case, she was granted functional protection, she was accompanied in her defamation complaint. When there is a problem, you have to know how to name it. To speak of discrimination, for example, is too vague. LGBT, racism and anti-Semitism, attacks on secularism, incivility, we must provide a response adapted to each situation. I remind you that respect is a fundamental part of reading, writing and counting.
Shouldn’t staff training be stepped up?
In the Nancy-Metz academy, a third of management staff have been trained on the dangers of radicalization. Inspé offers various training courses on the values of the Republic in initial and continuing training. The inspectors are currently working on a document that will take into account the contribution of each discipline to explain the values of the Republic.
To teach religious matters, a calendar comprising the festivals of religions had been drawn up a little over a year ago in Nancy thanks to a collaboration between the rectorate, prefecture, representatives of religions. Where we are ?
I gave my agreement so that the experience on the basis of the voluntary service of the teachers, be repeated this year in Meurthe-et-Moselle.
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