In a middle school in Seine-Saint-Denis, fears about unreplaced absences are apparent from the start of the school year

It is 9:20 a.m. Two middle school girls are hugging in front of the school. “It’s weird, I went to bed at 2 a.m. all summer”exclaims the first. “I was starting to get bored.”answers her friend. A few meters away, Léa* is anxious. “I’m afraid I won’t be able to find my way.”says the future sixth grader. Her mother, Mélanie, with large silver hoop earrings in her ears, is worried about seeing her daughter spend too many hours in the study hall. “I hesitated with the private sector, but I chose to put it in the public sector, at least for a year”she says. “We’ll see how it goes.”

Benoît Moreau, a mathematics teacher and Snes-FSU union representative at Jean-Jaurès, says that the college is already short of a teacher to provide “four hours” in its material and another for “nine o’clock in German”. If the problem of unreplaced hours affects the whole of France, Seine-Saint-Denis is particularly exposed. “Only one in two teachers would be replaced in secondary schools in Seine-Saint-Denis, compared to 78% nationally”had advanced the department president Stéphane Troussel in March, in a press release relayed on X.

While the inter-union of the 93 has largely mobilized against the establishment of level groups in French and mathematics, Jean-Jaurès will not apply this reform. Crossed at the bend of a street which separates the middle school from the high school, the head of the establishment confirms that the new “needs groups” will not see the light of day there, because “the students are good enough.” A decision that benefits everyone’s learning, believes Benoît Moreau. “Here, students from very poor families rub shoulders with students who are very culturally advantaged. They all talk to each other in the playground, it’s important to maintain this diversity in the classroom,” defends the teacher.

Sitting on a wooden bench, four young girls share two cans of energy drink. “We are in front of the high school”exclaims one of them, phone on the edge of her lips, in a voice message intended for “Marco”These future second-year students, who are waiting for their scheduled return to school at 10 a.m., say they have experienced repeated absences of teachers at the Colonel-Fabien and Cesaria-Evora colleges. They could relive this situation at the Jean-Jaurès high school, where many positions have still not been filled, according to the Snes-FSU of the Créteil academy: between 15 and 18 hours in French, 18 hours in Spanish, 12 hours in SVT…

Faced with a lack of human resources, “We are overcrowding the classes more and more”deplores the union representative Claire Fortassin. In the second year, the students at Jean-Jaurès will be on average 30 per class, sometimes 32. Overcrowded rooms, in an aging establishment. “Our children are not traumatized by the dilapidated state of the premises. They adapt, even though they could work in better conditions.”, “This is a problem,” laments a mother, Natacha Espinosa. This member of the FCPE parents’ federation cites buildings that are too small, missing chairs, as well as broken lockers and toilets.

Another parent joins her at the local café. “Did you miss going back to school?” Natacha Espinosa tells him. Last year, Sébastien Crème volunteered to fill a vacant physics-chemistry position at the college. “Three weeks after the start of the school year, the students still didn’t have a teacher. So I took a break from my career to become a contractor,” this technical director in IT jokes. He remembers the working conditions “very hard” and a remuneration displaying “two thirds less” than his usual salary.

Despite a public school “which is deteriorating”Natacha Espinosa does not plan to turn to the private sector. Neither does Sébastien Crème. “For the future of my children, I prefer that they study in a mixed class, with passionate teachers.”