The Minister of National Education is betting on an average at school, college and high school of 15% of teachers absent at most, while the Scientific Council was counting at the end of December on an absenteeism of a third of teachers at the peak. For the moment, 7% of teachers are missing from classes.
A wet finger prognosis? Some 7% of teachers are currently absent from schools, hard hit by the Covid epidemic, but the peak of absences “Should not normally exceed 15%”, assured this Wednesday the Minister of National Education, while the return to school has been under tension since Monday. “Am I going to deny that January is difficult?” Of course not”, all the same recognized Jean-Michel Blanquer, questioned during questions to the government in the Senate.
“Are we helpless when it comes to replacement problems? This is the main subject “, he continued, stressing that the figures put forward by the scientific council at the end of December “Speak of 30%” absent, “By adding the cases of patients and the cases of contact”, what “Is not at all the same subject”. The scientific council had in fact estimated at “at least” a third of the professors who could be affected by the virus by the end of January, either by being positive for Covid-19, or “Indirectly” being in contact.
But the rules of isolation have since been lightened, and teachers in contact “Go back to school if they are vaccinated after having done a test”, then specified the Minister of National Education.
Back to school under pressure
“It is impossible to say what the peak of absences will be, but it should not normally exceed 15%”, z therefore underlined Jean-Michel Blanquer this Wednesday in the Senate. “In any case, we are currently deploying means to go beyond the 9% of replacement means, and indeed to go towards 12-15%.”
“The absence this week, as we can see, it is 7%”, he said, citing an average for schools, colleges and high schools. “And so we are in a position at the moment to replace, with of course exceptions, there are some, I admit. But we are in a position to have this open school policy, which corresponds to everyone’s desire. ”
In an interview with Le Parisien on Sunday, Jean-Michel Blanquer had indicated that the ministry was recruiting “Contract workers and contractors“, to allow “In the first degree, to go from a replacement capacity of 9%” at “12-15% depending on the academies”. “I am pleased to observe the engagement of retired professors volunteering for replacements”, he added.
The start of the school year has been under tension since Monday with the Omicron variant, which raises concerns about a month of January very disturbed by the risks of Covid contamination, class closures and non-replaced teacher absences.