Guest of France Inter, Friday, November 26, the Minister of National Education Jean-Michel Blanquer announced “the distribution of self-tests to 6th year students, corresponding to two self-tests per week”. “So we are going to give a box of 10 self-tests worth five weeks to 6th year students”, And this “from Monday” [29 novembre], he clarified.
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Many 6th grade students are under 12 and are therefore not eligible for vaccination. These self-tests will have to be carried out “with family”, specifies the Minister of Education. This announcement comes as the health protocol does not change in college and high school.
In primary school, on the other hand, a new health protocol comes into force, gradually from this Monday and with the aim of being generalized from Monday, December 6. Classes will no longer close automatically upon detection of a positive case among students. They will now all have to be screened when a case is detected. Students who test negative will be able to return to class, those who test positive will be sent home for seven days.
Jean-Michel Blanquer also announced that 8,890 classes were closed on Thursday, or 1.70% of classes in France, mostly in primary school. This is a record since the start of the school year in September.
Despite an incidence rate multiplied by six among those under 10 years old since the week of October 26 to November 1, according to Public Health France, Jean-Michel Blanquer justifies the relative relaxation of the health protocol in force at primary school, explaining than “experimentation [du nouveau protocole sanitaire] since the beginning of October, in ten departments, has worked well in some places, with very significant intermediate results. “
In addition, the Minister of National Education specifies that parents or children must properly present “the negative test” to their teacher or to the school administration to be able to go to class, if one of their classmates has tested positive. A sworn statement will not be accepted.
This new health protocol should automatically increase the number of tests carried out in France, but “it will not overload the system”, assures Jean-Michel Blanquer, who adds that “tests will continue to be carried out in schools”, especially in isolated and disadvantaged establishments.
Teacher unions criticize the lack of tests carried out every week in schools. The Ministry of National Education currently counts 200,000 tests, or three times less than the objective announced by Jean-Michel Blanquer at the start of the September school year. He promised 600,000 weekly tests. This deficit is explained in particular by the fact that only 50% of the tests offered to students are actually carried out, according to data from the Ministry of National Education. In particular, many parents refuse to have their children tested at school.