a 12-day course on school time will be offered to volunteer high school students, announces Sarah El Haïry

Promised by Emmanuel Macron, the controversial Universal National Service (SNU) project will take a new step in 2024, despite criticism from the educational community. The Secretary of State for Youth, Sarah El Haïry, announced on Thursday June 15 her integration, from March 2024, into school time, with a 12-day internship for volunteer students in second class.

An announcement which comes after more than a month of discussions on the evolution of the UNS with the trade unions, in an attempt to reach a concrete project. “There will be no obligation, a bit like a school trip. This stay will cost nothing to the establishments, nor to the parents. This new modality will coexist with the cohesion stays chosen individually by the young people during their holidays”detailed in an interview with Figaro Sarah El Haïry, in charge of this file.

Launch of a call for projects

These courses will begin “around March 2024”, “in another department” than that of the students, continued Sarah El Haïry. They “will spend their stay in the same place as the rest [des élèves volontaires] of their class, but they will be mixed in households with other young people they do not know”she said, without knowing what will happen to students who do not wish to participate in this trip.

>> Four questions on Universal National Service, which the executive wants to gradually make compulsory

“All the students in the class will be able to participate in the cohesion stay, including the students” who are not of French nationality, we specify in the cabinet of Sarah El Haïry. They will wear the prescribed uniform. A call for projects will be launched “in a few days and schools will have until next fall to respond”.

The UNS was launched in 2019 in a targeted manner, with the objective of eventually making it universal, therefore generalized and mandatory. For the moment, it only concerns young volunteers (32,000 in 2022) and its generalization is coming up against strong resistance.