PARIS (Reuters) – President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday evening that he had “indulgence” for Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, who has been plunged into the turmoil of a controversy over the private schooling of her children since her appointment as head of a super-ministry of National Education and Sports.
Asked during a major press conference organized at the Elysée about Amélie Oudéa-Castéra’s comments on public schools, the Head of State replied that according to him it was a “remark who was clumsy.
“She apologized for it, she did well,” he said of the minister who took over the portfolio of National Education, in addition to Sports, following the appointment of Gabriel Attal as Prime Minister last week.
“The minister will succeed in her task with the teachers,” added Emmanuel Macron, giving weight to the position adopted during the day by Amélie Oudéa-Castera, who said she wanted to continue to assume her mission despite calls for resignation coming from part of the opposition.
“Now, let’s move forward,” launched Amélie Oudéa-Castera at the National Assembly, after having defended her “sincerity” in the face of “personal attacks” in response to deputy Rodrigo Arenas (La France insoumise, far left) who had just asked her to resign.
“I have ambition for the school, I want to support the entire educational community to get the social elevator moving again,” said the minister during the Questions to the Government session, promising to make proposals to Gabriel Attal on the issue of replacing absent teachers.
The minister had gone a little earlier to a public elementary school, located rue Littré in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, which she had blamed for hours of absence not being replaced to justify the schooling of her children within from the Stanislas private Catholic establishment.
“I was able to return to these apologies that I owed them for having hurt them,” declared Amélie Oudéa-Castera at the exit of the establishment while she was copiously booed by demonstrators.
“It was also a conversation that was useful, constructive in which we discussed the future of the school together,” added the minister. “It is this road map that I will continue to carry by remaining attentive.”
The minister began meetings with teaching unions on Monday in a tense atmosphere while a call for a strike in National Education was launched on February 1.
Calls for resignation have erupted in recent days from the ranks of the far left and the far right.
“I don’t see how she can continue to carry a political project for the school of the Republic,” said Mathilde Panot, leader of the La France insoumise (LFI) deputies, on Tuesday on BFMTV/RMC.
(Written by Blandine Hénault and Tangi Salaün, edited by Nicolas Delame and Jean Terzian)
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