A special atmosphere for this new school year maintained in person despite the virulence of Omicron. To face the epidemic, there is only one solution: ventilation. But while the Minister of National Education has announced financial assistance of 20 million euros to finance CO2 sensors, only 20% of schools are equipped. The State returns the responsibility to the communities which, for their part, feel poorly supported by the government.
Sensors costing more than a hundred euros
“It is 35,000 euros for the town hall of Bastia. We had heard about a sum which is allocated to the installation of these sensors, but we have no news concerning the modalities of access to these subsidies”, specifies Ivana Polisini, deputy mayor of Bastia, in charge of education.
These CO2 sensors are also the obsession of the mayor of Savigny-le Temple in Seine-et-Marne, Marie-Line Pichery, who cannot afford to install sensors in each classroom, each of these devices costing more than ‘a hundred euros. “Twenty million euros in aid which were announced by the government in the fall. And the amount of aid is not sufficient 50 euros per sensor”, adds the mayor.
The “ping-pong game” of the State and the communities
Result: teachers powerless to confront Omicron and neglected by the authorities who do not get along. “The local authorities and the state are passing the buck by saying each time it’s up to the other to do. And during that time, we are in the middle of this ping-pong game and the days go by, months go by, without the quality of the air being improved “, indignant Sophie Vénétitay, general secretary of a secondary teaching union.
For this re-entry, therefore, no sensors or ventilation, purification or air recycling systems. The schools will have the only bulwark against the variant: open windows.