A school bus in Toulouse, February 8, 2022 (AFP/Archives/Valentine CHAPUIS)
Some 6,000 school bus driver jobs are still vacant less than two weeks before the start of the school year, according to the Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune.
“We are approaching this start of the 2023 school year (…) in a much better situation and with little concern about the transport which will be provided for the 2 million students”, he however affirmed Wednesday in front of the press.
Last year 8,000 bus driver positions were still not filled as the start of the school year approached.
To reduce the number of vacant positions at the start of the new school year, the Ministries of Transport and Labour, in collaboration with the regions, have simplified a certain number of procedures in order to allow positions to be taken up more quickly.
“We had already started lowering the age of the school bus driver’s license from 21 to 18,” noted the Minister of Transport.
His Labor colleague Olivier Dussopt also argued for an average increase of 8% in the wages of drivers combined “with the desire to offer more stable contracts”.
To compensate for the 6,000 vacant posts, the ministers made sure with the regions that solutions had been found so that there is “no suspension of school transport”, specified Clément Beaune.
Thus, in the Grand Est, “a staggered return and departure times” has been put in place, said Prisca Thevenot, Secretary of State for Youth.
© 2023 AFP
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