In the event of the closure of schools in areas subject to power outages this winter, the parents of schoolchildren will only be notified the day before, announces the Ministry of Education.
The news fell on Friday, December 2. While France is facing a risk of electricity shortage this winter, it has been announced that power outages may occur occasionally in metropolitan schools during the cold season. According to the protocol sent Friday, December 2 by the Ministry of National Education, these will take place over three time slots: from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Note that each school can only be subject to one load shedding per day, so that no closure lasts a whole day.
If this news is already causing concern among teachers’ unions, the one that will follow should upset more than one. Still according to the protocol, in the event of the closure of schools linked to power outages, the parents of schoolchildren will only be notified the day before. Indeed, in the event that the government is required to cut the power, the areas concerned will be announced at 3 p.m. the day before the load shedding. The Enedis site (monecowatt.fr) will communicate the list of schools concerned at 5 p.m. and the prefect will not announce it to the population until 7 p.m.
Among the unions, the concern already present
In other words, parents will have to organize themselves at the last minute, which already promises many hiccups throughout the winter. On the side of the unions, we already deplore that the parents are left behind. “There are many blind spots in what has been announced and we are very concerned about the ministry’s ability to cope“, says Stéphane Crochet, general secretary of the SE-UNSA union, to our colleagues from the Parisian.
Note that for the time being, it is not 100% sure that France will face power cuts. These should indeed only take place in cases of extreme urgency. “We are not announcing power cuts. In the situation where we have a particularly cold and energy-intensive winter (…) there could be situations of tension“, indicated the spokesman of the Government, Olivier Véran, on BFMTV and RMC.
© Baptiste Autissier
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Pap Ndiaye
Pap Ndiaye, Minister of Education, announced that in the event of the closure of a school linked to a loss of electricity, parents will only be notified the day before.
© Stephane Lemouton
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Olivier Veran
According to Olivier Véran, it is not certain that France will have to suffer power cuts.
© Pexels
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School closures will be announced the day before the power cut.
The Enedis site (monecowatt.fr) will communicate the list of schools targeted at 5 p.m. and the prefect will announce it to the population at 7 p.m.
© Pexels
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France is facing a risk of electricity shortage this winter.
Power cuts could take place in France this winter.