At a time when most children are wondering if they will be in “their best friend’s” class, others are about to experience a bumpy start to the new school year. Two months after the nights of riots that followed the death of Nahel in Nanterre, killed by police fire, the wounds have been partially erased on the 250 schools targeted, most often superficially. About sixty – mostly schools – experienced the ordeal of fire, according to the inventory drawn up in early July by Pap N’Diaye, just before his departure from the government.
His successor rue de Grenelle, Gabriel Attal, delivered a new report on Tuesday, less than two weeks before the start of the school year. Of the 13 most degraded establishments, “eight will be able to reopen and welcome students, often with adjustments”, detailed the new Minister of Education, during a visit to the Champollion school in Dijon (Côte-d’ Gold), hit on July 1 by a molotov cocktail.
“We worked hard to get everything ready on D-Day,” says the mayor, François Rebsamen, moving from a classroom breathing new to another where the smell of grilled food still hangs. The work should cost 550,000 euros. And on a national scale? No doubt several tens of millions of euros, which should be covered by insurance, with which cities are preparing to fight.
“The French were deeply shocked. School is the soul of the Republic”
Finally, only five establishments will be missing on September 4, in particular in La Verrière (Yvelines), the most impacted municipality in France, with two schools on the ground. It was here that Gabriel Attal made his first trip, the day after his appointment. “I saw teachers and parents in tears. When it happened, people in the neighborhood were passing buckets of water to put out the fire while the rioters fed it and prevented help from getting through. »
Five establishments out of 60,000? 650 students deprived of their school out of 12 million students? A drop of water whose symbolic significance should not be overlooked. “The French were deeply shocked. The school is the soul of the Republic. We have to show that it stands up”, insists Gabriel Attal, welcoming the “titanic work carried out this summer so that each child of the Republic has a viable solution at the start of the school year, and this down to the last centimeter: this means shuttles to take the children to their new school, identical canteen prices, erasing the stigma so that families can turn the page. »
In Gironde, a small miracle
This is also one of the “lessons” of this dirty blow to the school institution, unheard of on this scale: companies have shifted construction sites, shifted their holidays. Municipal services have sacrificed weekends. “The mobilization was exceptional at all levels, applauds Grégoire Ensel, the boss of the FCPE, the main federation of parents of students. For the well-being of the children, we continue to do the maximum, and so much the better. The school must remain an untouchable sanctuary. »
In Lormont (Gironde), the Condorcet kindergarten will welcome its 125 students, a small miracle, given the damage suffered. “Decontamination and painting, it’s over. Electricity too, last week”, details the mayor, Jean Touzeau, who thought the mission “impossible” at the beginning of July.
The end of the construction site will however take place this Wednesday with the installation of two modular structures installed in place of the fire in the multipurpose room… “in the playground, we couldn’t do better”, apologizes almost Mr. mayor, “stunned to have repaired the cat, especially during the summer”.
#Riots #burned #schools #remain #closed #start #school #year #cost #titanic #work #summer
