Jean-Michel Blanquer’s successor is weakened, barely a year after his arrival in government.
Who is really Pap Ndiaye? The Minister of National Education may have settled in rue de Grenelle for a year now, his name is still little known to the general public, accustomed to the clear-cut positions of Jean-Michel Blanquer. With his predecessor, the academic does not share much, except perhaps Jean-Marc Huart, director general of school education before being imposed on Pap Ndiaye as chief of staff.
The criticisms against Pap Ndiaye come as much from teachers’ unions and parent-teacher associations as from part of the majority. At a time when rumors of a reshuffle are intensifying, the question of his continuation in government arises, confide several sources to franceinfo.
Everything had however started with a promise, in May 2022. National education, one of the priorities of Emmanuel Macron’s second five-year term, would no longer be led by a divisive minister, who had alienated the entire teaching body. . Exit Jean-Michel Blanquer, here is Pap Ndiaye, 56, an academic specializing in migration, with a more conciliatory temperament. Nevertheless, his installation rue de Grenelle is done in adversity, more than for any other minister. The extreme right is unleashed, calling him in particular “racialist activist” and D“immigrationist”.
“He is unable to get a word”
Within the executive, the matter is hardly simpler, because of the omnipresence of the presidential couple on the theme of education. When it is not Emmanuel Macron who steals the show from the minister during trips, by arrogating the announcements, it is Brigitte Macron who speaks out publicly in favor of school uniforms, a position contrary to that by Pap Ndiaye. Caught in this pincer movement, this personality from civil society encounters difficulties in asserting himself. With the parliamentarians of the majority, the case is also complicated. “He is terrified at the idea of coming to the hemicycle, it’s a problem”, alerted an influential member of the majority in February. She is joined by one of her colleagues: “The new ministers are below everything. Pap Ndiaye is unable to get a word.”
Many observers, however, praise an easing of relations between National Education, teachers and parents of students. “In terms of method, he is very appreciated”, defends a Renaissance deputy who is not very friendly towards the new figures of the Borne government. But some choices do not pass. At the beginning of May, Pap Ndiaye declared that the teachers of the 80 professional streams soon to be abolished could be converted into middle school or primary school teachers. “It’s a disrepute of the profession, so we consider that we are just there to occupy the students”plague with BFMTV Guislaine David, of Snuipp-FSU.
The Minister of National Education also missed an opportunity to impose himself with an ambitious policy in terms of school co-education, one of his hobbyhorses when he took office. Pushed back several times, then announced on the sly, his plan has been criticized for its lack of scale in the public sector. The private sector meanwhile signed a loose protocol in mid-May, far from the initial intentions.
A response deemed insufficient in the face of school bullying
Recently, another sequence illustrated the difficulties of the minister rue de Grenelle. While Pap Ndiaye met the parents of Lindsay, a teenager who committed suicide after being bullied, they criticized the minister. “I did not find the minister sincere, I was waiting for things to move, I was waiting for action”, regretted the mother of the young girl. Two days later, Brigitte Macron in turn received the parents “I was listened to”this time confided Betty Gervois. “Emmanuel knew that Brigitte would catch up”deciphers a relative of the presidential couple.
In the wake of this tragedy, Pap Ndiaye announced a “awareness hour” on the theme “harassment and social networks”, last week. One hour “well below requirements”Who “do not improvise” : the initiative left the parents of pupils and the teachers skeptical, in full period of revisions of the patent. Thus ended the laborious first year of Minister Pap Ndiaye at the Ministry of National Education. “We will have a 2023 back-to-school which will be better than the 2022 back-to-school”, he promised, at the end of May, despite the latent lack of teachers. Will he still be there for the return to class?