Étienne Michel, Director General of SEGEC, the General Secretariat for Catholic Education, was the guest of the Matinale Bel RTL at 7.15 am on Thursday. He explained in particular what were the conditions necessary to organize a return of students to class.
Is the decision to reopen schools made or not?
“The decision in principle is taken, and the public authority has started to draw a framework for thinking about this gradual and gradual reopening of schools”.
We know that there are many meetings between the actors of education and the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, you are one of them. We had a leak yesterday on the recommendations of the experts, in the end it is still the National Security Council which will decide. We can say that the date of May 18 for a gradual resumption of schools, it is validated, or not yet?
“In any case, this is the working hypothesis on which we worked yesterday.”
Will there be a new meeting with all education stakeholders after the National Security Council?
“From Saturday.”
This means that we will probably have to wait until Saturday evening to have all the details regarding the resumption in French-language education.
“Here, and between these two meetings, it will of course be necessary for the government of the Wallonia Brussels Federation to make its opinion and that is what will happen, I imagine, in the sequence of the next few days”.
A first question on the theoretical organization at this stage, it will be a recovery by levels? It has been said that it would be first the rhetos, so the last year of secondary school, and then the sixth primary which would start. Do we agree on that or is it more complicated than that? Could there be more levels starting on May 18?
“Indeed, this is the starting diagram, sixth secondary and sixth primary, but there is a debate on the question of whether it is better to reopen a higher number of class levels but part-time. , this is the debate of the moment. It is a debate that is both educational and organizational. It is obvious that if more class levels can reconnect with the school, it will be better from an educational point of view, monitoring of learning, but it will also be much easier to organize these classes, which must be classes with a limited number of students. “
We will have measures of social distancing, it takes four square meters for a student, that means that we will make classes of ten students, we will split the classes into two or three?
“I calculated that in a class of 40 square meters, we will be able to put 8 students. This means that when there is a group of 24 students, we will have to divide this group into three subgroups. The question is good to know, who will supervise each of these three sub-groups? “
It means that the students will go to school in rotation. A third of the class will go to school each time.
“I think the most obvious pattern is indeed turnover, part-time return from the students.”
It also means that we should not cross paths, that we respect social distancing, that we organize the times of arrival, departure, recreation, so that the different classes no longer cross?
“Indeed, it is an ideal to be achieved, we will have to see what we can achieve.”
Review the interview in full:
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