The historian, new Minister of National Education, is breaking on certain points with his predecessor, but the unions are waiting to know his roadmap and are calling for the opening of dialogue.
Surprise of the new government, the historian Pap Ndiaye was appointed Minister of Education on Friday. The appointment of this specialist in the social history of the United States and minorities is surprising, because his opinions appear to break with those of his predecessor Jean-Michel Blanquer. The two men had thus displayed their differences of opinion on the term Islamo-leftism in early 2021.
After five years of arm wrestling with Jean-Michel Blanquer, the unions welcome the change of minister, but remain for the moment in expectation.
“We are surprised”
This appointment “was a surprise, I think for everyone, because it was not one of the names circulating”, declared this Saturday on BFMTV Guislaine David, co-secretary general and spokesperson for the primary school union. Snuipp-FSU. “This academic who enters politics is little, if not not known to the educational community”, note for its part in a press release the union UNSA.
“Like everyone else, we are surprised”, abounds with BFMTV.com Laurent Hoefman, national president of the SNE (Union of the first degree), who underlines that the new minister “has never exercised this mission before”.
Dominique Bruneau, federal secretary of the Sgen-CFDT, notes him with BFMTV.com of the differences between the ex and the new minister, underlining “breaks between the two men on certain points”. Several unions note in any case the need to recreate the dialogue after the departure of Jean-Michel Blanquer. “The priority is the need to work on the reconciliation of staff with their institution”, writes the Unsa.
With Jean-Michel Blanquer, “there was no dialogue, he was a minister who did not support the challenge and did not support that we did not have the same opinion as him (…) So well obviously, yes, we will have to change the method”, declares Guislaine David.
“He is there to implement Emmanuel Macron’s policy”
After the surprise, several questions persist, because if the minister changes, the majority remains the same for the moment, and the teachers’ unions fear the continuity of the policy pursued by the Ministry of Education during the last five-year term. Pap Ndiaye, “is there to put in place Emmanuel Macron’s policy and Emmanuel Macron’s educational program, a program that we contest and which is contrary to what we are considering”, recalls the representative Snuipp-FSU.
“How will Jean-Michel Blanquer’s policy be continued, or not? What orientations are planned?” asks Laurent Hoefman, who fears for his part a change of direction in the programs, “it would destabilize the teachers”.
All are waiting for the moment to meet the new minister, “to open a real social dialogue, to talk about the projects that will have to be launched, to have his roadmap”, explains Dominique Bruneau. Before that, “we can’t really say whether we are satisfied or not” with this appointment. In addition, “it is difficult to predict what margin of autonomy he will have” during his term.
“We will judge by deeds”
“Obviously we will judge on actions and on the first relations that we will have with the minister”, declares Guislaine David.
Dominique Bruneau underlines on the other hand that the legislative elections could in any case have an influence on the projects of the new minister. All recall in any case the needs of National Education several times expressed during the last five years, in particular concerning the salary increase of teachers.
“It’s first and foremost something that has to move quickly,” explains Guislaine David. It is “still a priority file when we see the state of recruitment, when we see the state of teachers’ salaries, and from this point of view we are also expecting very rapid actions from our new minister”, launches also on our antenna Sophie Vénétitay, deputy secretary of the SNES-FSU.
—
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/eluniverso/CX6J76ZKYJGTNA37IB5AIV3VBE.jpeg "Free pizza, highly recommended | Gastronomy | Entertainment")
