A week before the first round of the presidential election, franceinfo helps you see more clearly every morning on the programs of the candidates for the presidential election. You will find the five themes selected in length in the franceinfo news podcast Le Quart d’Heure, online on the Radio France application and all platforms.
In the home stretch before the first round of the presidential election, which will take place on April 10, we are interested in one of the major themes of this campaign: education. franceinfo takes stock of the various proposals of candidates in terms of education.
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After two years of health crisis linked to Covid-19 with cascading replacements and uncertain protocols, teachers feel that they too have been on the front line. They were obviously heard by almost all the candidates. “Our teachers, if we look at things and say it frankly, are not well paid”declares Emmanuel Macron. “In reality, today, we would need a 33% increase in wages”says Raphaël Giromini, member of the National Education Commission of the NPA. “In this five-year term, particularly during this pandemic, the school and the educational community have often been mistreated”deplores the environmental candidate Yannick Jadot.
Many are therefore proposing a salary increase with, among other things: a 15% increase for Marine Le Pen, a 20% increase for Yannick Jadot and up to 33% for Philippe Poutou. The objective for these candidates is for French teachers to be paid as well as their counterparts in other developed countries. Emmanuel Macron and Valérie Pécresse also agree to increase the teachers, provided that they perform additional tasks.
The education proposals do not stop at salaries. On reading the programs, there are two major opposing visions of education. The right and the extreme right advocate the notion of excellence. To achieve this, we must first give more space to the fundamentals. Valérie Pécresse, Éric Zemmour and Marine Le Pen want to increase the number of hours of French, mathematics and history. It is also necessary, according to them, to control more often the knowledge of the pupils. A certificate of studies to go to college could be compulsory if Valérie Pécresse or Éric Zemmour win the election.
Éric Zemmour and Marine Le Pen are also planning the abolition of family allowances for the families of pupils who are absent or who disrupt the class. The candidate of the National Rally goes even further with the obligation for school heads to file a complaint against their students in certain cases.
On the left, Yannick Jadot and Anne Hidalgo rely more on new pedagogies. The socialist candidate even proposes to organize general states on the subject from the beginning of her mandate. Candidates from the left also want to promote social diversity at school with the idea that all students should have the same opportunities. This includes, among other things, free supplies and the canteen for Jean-Luc Mélenchon. The rebellious candidate also advocates the reduction of class sizes like Nathalie Arthaud. A reform of the school map is notably defended by Yannick Jadot and Anne Hidalgo.
In the programs of many candidates, there is also talk of returning to two major reforms of Emmanuel Macron’s five-year term. First there is the baccalaureate reform of 2018, carried out by the Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer. Many candidates criticize it and want to repeal it. Fabien Roussel and Jean Lassalle in particular.
The other major reform of the Macron five-year term decried is Parcoursup, the post-baccalaureate selection system. On the left, all the candidates want to delete it.“It is a particularly inhuman system”believes the socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo. “I will repeal and the government will repeal Parcoursup, this ignominy”announces Jean-Luc Mélenchon. On the right, the candidates rather propose to reform it, such as Nicolas Dupont-Aignan.
Going back to the old system is out of the question for Emmanuel Macron, who defends the Parcoursup platform. But the candidate undertakes to offer more hours of courses devoted to orientation from the 5th class.