“Our colleagues are on the verge of breaking down”, warns Catherine Nave-Bekhti, secretary general of SGEN-CFDT National Education, Monday December 6 on franceinfo. “This is the reason why the SGEN-CFDT is now filing a social alert with the ministry”, she added. The union denounces increasingly complicated working conditions because of health constraints, while the level 3 health protocol will come into force in schools.
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“The passage to level 3 is necessary but it will not be sufficient if we want the school to hold, says Stéphane Crochet, secretary general of SE-Unsa Since the change in strategy in the event of a positive case, we have experienced a difficult disorganization within the schools, so it is absolutely necessary to review the procedure in the event of a positive case and it is also necessary to recruit teachers to ensure the replacement. “
Catherine Nave-Bekhti regrets that “it took the Minister a good year to recognize that sensors could be useful when they were already asked to do so in the fall of 2020. It was not until the start of the 2021 school year that he began to say that could be useful and very recently there has been financial assistance for local communities “, she criticizes, calling for the continuation of this subsidy after December 31.
“You need sensors to be sure to ventilate enough, but that is not enough!”, adds the secretary general of SGEN-CFDT. “It is also necessary to be able to ventilate. However, there are still classrooms where the windows do not open or not sufficiently”, she explains. “Professional ventilation systems should be installed to renew the air in the classrooms, without necessarily lowering the temperature in the classrooms to 14 or 10 degrees, which is not sustainable for children,” nor for teachers. “
A request already made by the Federation of parents’ councils (FCPE). “The state must commit to CO2 sensors and air purifiers in classrooms, asked on franceinfo, Nageate Belahcen, co-president of the federation. There is no investment being made as we speak, when it should have been done a long time ago. “
In terms of replacements, secretary Stéphane Crochet is worried about their insufficient number: “We are in a very tense situation. We have colleagues sick with Covid, but also with other viruses that have made a comeback. So when we will not have to disturb the students, we absolutely need reinforcement at the school to be able to hold out all winter. ” Catherine Nave-Bekhti deplores too many measures that lead to “pedagogical discontinuity”. According to her, “It is a reality for many children, who cannot go to class when they are positive cases, or contact cases. We have testimonies from colleagues, including in the second degree, who say that there are pupils who, since the beginning of the year, have missed more than 30 days of lessons because they have been in contact with their families! “
“What we are asking for is also a pedagogical adaptation of the organization of teaching so that the pressure does not fall, neither on the pupils, nor on the colleagues.”
Catherine Nave-Bekhti, Secretary General of SGEN-CFDT National Educationto franceinfo
She adds that an extension of the Christmas holidays, a time envisaged, would be “complicated” for the same reason, because staff should “redo all the teaching programming” while they are exhausted.