back to school. After two months of vacation, it’s time to put the schoolbag back on your shoulders. Some 12 million pupils return to school this Thursday 1er September, without a mask and with a light health protocol. This year, the concern is about the teacher recruitment crisis, despite the promises of the Minister of Education, Pap Ndiaye, to have “a teacher in front of each class”. For families, the start of the new school year will also be under the sign of inflation, which does not spare the school. In its 38ᵉ annual survey on the cost of going back to sixth grade, the national federation Families of France noted a “sharp increase of 4.25% in the cost of school supplies”.
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Ukraine. French school children are not the only ones to go back to school. This Thursday, Ukrainian students return to classrooms. In 2021, Ukraine had 4.2 million students. But more than 2 million children have fled abroad since the start of the war and 3 million are displaced inside the country, according to Unicef. In kyiv, now far from the front, 132,000 children are expected in classes on 1er September, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko. Nearly half of the approximately 23,000 Ukrainian schools – 2,135 of which were damaged by the war – have equipped shelters and will therefore be able to start the school year face-to-face, according to the Ministry of Education.
Defense. This Thursday, the Australian Defense Minister, Richard Marles, is on an official visit to France, at the Brest naval base. The Australian official will be welcomed by his French counterpart, Sébastien Lecornu. This visit is all the more important since since Anthony Albanese came to power, Australia has been trying to restore good relations with France. As a reminder, the withdrawal of a military mega-contract by Canberra had deeply tainted Franco-Australian relations in September 2021.
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Two wheels. From this Thursday, motorized two-wheelers (2WD) will be obliged to pay for their parking on marked locations, while free will be applied for electric two-wheelers. Parisian residents can benefit from a preferential rate (applicable in their area of residence) and professional passes are allocated. Registration on an online platform is required.
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Basketball. For the Blues, the European adventure begins this Thursday. Before imagining the final phase in Berlin, from the eighth, France will have to extricate themselves from a raised Pool B with Slovenia, Lithuania, Germany, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Hungary. Preferably in first place (out of the four qualifiers) to avoid crossing Serbia or Greece from the quarters. In the best of cases, the head of the group will be played on Wednesday against Slovenia by Luka Doncic, showered with a point in the semi-final of the Olympic Games thanks to a block in extremis from… Nicolas Batum.
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