in Dijon, no more masks at school, but parents of students and teachers remain cautious

In schools, it is no longer compulsory to put on your mask since March 14. However, in the Côte-d’Or department, the Covid-19 contaminations increase again in recent days. In the schools, colleges and high schools of the Dijon academy, 669 students were infected according to the report of the rectorate published on March 25. It is almost twice as much as previous figures, which reported 388 children affected by the disease. For the moment, the rules do not change in the classrooms. Everyone can therefore wear the mask if they wish. In Dijon (Côte-d’Or), some parents of students are still on their guard.

Protect other family members first

In front of’Josephine-Baker elementary school in Dijon, Audrey waits with her children. She is 41 years old and one of them goes to school there. For this childminder, the choice is clear when it comes to the mask for her children, in class. “I taught my children to always keep the mask on, because it’s not just them. In particular, we have in the family people who are diabetic and fragile in the face of the Coronavirus.explains the mother.

This is not the only reason that helped him to adopt this decision. One of his children has already contracted the coronavirus. Since then, the situation has been complicated for the family: “My 10 year old son has had Covid and he still needs lung exams. It is likely to have sequelae“.

Take advantage of this period without a mask

A little further, Flora categorically opposes the mask. She is the mother of two children aged 7 and 8, one of whom already contracted Covid-19 in February 2020. The 39-year-old mother has strong ideas about the mask. “I no longer ask them to wear it to class. It is an obstacle for understanding, for learning. We finally have the freedom to no longer wear it, so we might as well take advantage of it.“, she explains. Apart from an evolution of the protocol in schools, she does not intend to reconsider her choice.

Caution among teachers

The establishment has more than a dozen teachers. A few wear the mask again. “We are three to keep the mask in the school. Two wear it all the time, and I wear it depending on the moment“, says Anais Fourneret, a teacher at this school. She has never really abandoned this barrier gesture, even since the relaxation of the rules.

“Every time I move around or am closer to my students, I put my mask back on“, describes the 40-year-old school teacher. For her, if the situation deteriorates, there will be no questions to ask: “If during the coming week, the rules change, I will keep the mask on at all times“.

The academy has 267,918 students in schools, colleges and high schools. In all the departments of Burgundy (Côte-d’Or, Nièvre, Saône-et-Loire, Yonne), 1,996 children have been affected by Covid-19between March 17 and 24.

–