the Department at the bedside of the students

“Saint-Etienne is a student city without forgetting Roanne and Firminy. We have to be alongside the students because they are having a difficult time in their lives, ”insists Georges Ziegler, chairman of the departmental council.

One in three students experiences precarious situations accentuated by the loss of paid activities. “We must extend a hand to them” asks Georges Ziegler. To provide support, the departmental council will work in partnership with Unis-Cité and the integration company Envie-Loire.

As part of civic service, the Unis-Cité association will recruit fifteen volunteers for a period of six months, that is to say five teams of three who “will be trained in“ going to and fro ”, specifies Julie Mirlycourtois, responsible for the Unis-Cité Loire branch. “After training, these teams will be in contact with the students to find out their needs and report them to the departmental council services”, explains Julie Mirlycourtois.

150 to 200 laptops

Among these lifts there could be the digital needs of the students. Some of them no longer have or no Internet access due to the drop in their income. The departmental council will be able to finance the acquisition of 150 to 200 laptops. They will be purchased from the Envie-Loire integration company. As part of a sustainable development approach, Envie-Loire renovates various equipment, particularly in multimedia and IT.

“During the first confinement, we were able to meet the needs of certain families who were not equipped with computers. Today, we are going to focus our action on students ”confirms Nordine Soufi, Envie Loire operations manager.

During the presentation of this action, Michèle Maras, vice-president of the departmental council in charge of Education and Youth, indicated that “the students lived in silence. We must be by their side to help them. Today is a first step of support ”. As for Solange Berlier, vice-president of the Department in charge of Social Action, insisted on “the importance of creating links and reaching out to others in a period when teaching is mainly done at a distance”. A mission that will fall to young people in civic service who will go to meet students in difficulty.

If you are interested in civic service for this mission, here is the contact at Unis-Cité: [email protected]

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