The Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, interviewed Monday, November 8 on franceinfo, encouraged local communities to equip schools with CO2 sensors. “We reimburse them up to 50 euros per sensor. It depends on where you buy it but basically [un capteur] is between 50 and 150 euros and therefore we reimburse a good part to the local authorities, they know it “, argued the minister.
The Ministry of Education, in its health protocol intended for schools, recommends a “frequent ventilation of the premises “ and recommend “to equip schools and educational establishments with mobile sensors, in order to determine the ventilation frequency necessary for each room or to check the correct operation of mechanical ventilation, in buildings where opening the opening is not recommended, or even impossible . “ But the purchase of these sensors returns to local communities and the Minister of National Education seems to minimize the cost.
A group of researchers entitled Projet CO2 has drawn up a list of trusted devices that can be found on a website, also recommended by the ministry itself in a “reference sheet dedicated to the issue of ventilation”. On this site, the cheapest sensor is a Chinese device displayed at 100 euros. The cheapest of the French sensors is 300 euros and the most upscale is a German sensor at 600 euros.
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As Jean-Michel Blanquer indicates, local authorities can ask to be reimbursed for part of the cost of acquiring these sensors. A letter was sent to the rectors of the academy on October 19, detailing the terms of this assistance and “aid request forms have been made available to local communities”, indicates the Ministry of National Education.
The Seine-Saint-Denis Departmental Council having received this letter explains that the note from the rectorate indicates that “theThe amount of the financial contribution is a lump sum and corresponds to the smallest of the three ceilings “. Clearly, the ministry can choose to reimburse either 2 euros per student, or 50 euros per sensor, or else prefer to reimburse the actual acquisition cost including tax of these sensors invested by the community, depending on what is least expensive. .
In Paris, for example, the city has decided to buy 2,400 sensors billed at 230 euros per unit (excluding taxes). This represents a total bill of over 550,000 euros. “After initial calculations which remain to be confirmed, the City of Paris could benefit from financial support from the State of approximately 119,000 euros, a sum which would cover only 22% of the expenses incurred for the acquisition of the sensors”, assures the municipality.
The Minister of Education affirms that local communities “know” that they can benefit from this assistance. Contacted, some nevertheless assured that they were not aware of this possibility. As for assessing the number of requests made to date, the Paris Rectorate replies, for example, that it is “still too early to establish an assessment, the time for the information to be disseminated in the local communities and for the latter to make their possible requests for aid.” However, the ministry also indicates that the reimbursement scheme “will cover the period from April 28 to December 31, 2021”. There is therefore little time for local authorities to place an order in the hope of obtaining financial compensation.