Alexandre Chauveau / Photo credits: XOSE BOUZAS / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP
modified to
07:07, February 9, 2024
Nicole Belloubet joins the Attal government as Minister of National Education and Youth. The former Minister of Justice replaces Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, returning to the Ministry of Sports and the Olympic Games. But Emmanuel Macron’s choice raises questions in light of Nicole Belloubet’s latest positions on education.
Nicole Belloubet replaces Amélie Oudéa-Castéra and thus becomes the new Minister of National Education. A sector which is not completely foreign to her since she was rector of the academy of Limoges and Toulouse in the 2000s. But this choice raises questions in view of her latest positions.
Closer to Pap Ndiaye than to Gabriel Attal
She will be the one who will have to apply the uniform experiment. However, in 2016, Nicolas Belloubet was ironic about “the jokes about the restoration of authority or the wearing of the blouse”. The one who resigned in 2005 from her position as academy rector to oppose the education reform of the Raffarin government, on the other hand defended the reform of the college of Najat Vallaud-Belkacem.
Nicole Belloubet thus called for “going beyond the rigid framework of lectures, giving students time and autonomy and protecting their right to make mistakes”. In short, a pedagogical vision of teaching, closer to that of Pap Ndiaye than to Gabriel Attal.
Controversial statements on secularism
Rue de Grenelle, the new minister will also have to manage the issue of secularism. But his statements on the subject have already sparked controversy. In 2020, while young Mila was threatened with death for having criticized Islam, she declared that “an insult to religion is obviously an attack on freedom of conscience”, forcing Emmanuel Macron to reframe it in the days following. His detractors finally question his authority and accuse him of having, as Keeper of the Seals, emptied the prisons during the Covid crisis.