Temperatures in classrooms, “flooded” gymnasium, lack of staff… Teachers from Seine-Saint-Denis on strike to demand an “emergency plan”

Many schools in the department enter their second week of mobilization on Monday. Teachers denounce in particular the dilapidation of the buildings and the lack of human and material resources.

Insulation problems, non-replacements, lack of resources. In Seine-Saint-Denis, the learning conditions of students are singled out by teachers, who begin their second week of mobilization on Monday March 4. Since the return from the winter holidays last Monday, several actions have been carried out: strikes, rallies, general meetings. Teachers are demanding an “emergency plan” for the department, the poorest in mainland France.

They denounce in particular the dilapidation of the buildings. “In winter, it can be very cold, there are practical training rooms [travaux pratiques] in chemistry where the temperature drops to 12-13 degrees”, says François Mailloux, computer science teacher in a high school in Montreuil and representative of Sud Education. In other rooms, “in summer, it rises to 38-40 degrees”. “The gymnasium is regularly flooded and therefore unusable”, he adds. These insulation problems are found in 70% of the department’s colleges, according to the survey carried out by the Seine-Saint-Denis inter-union association. In 60% of cases, computers, educational materials and even soap are missing.

The department’s establishments also suffer from a lack of staff. “We have a population that is particularly disadvantaged on a social and economic level and in addition, we have a state of education that is particularly devastatedrecalls Mélissa, who teaches French in Sevran. We know, for example, that the students of Seine-Saint-Denis have already lost a year of schooling when they arrive at high school with all the non-replacements of colleagues put together.”

Ways to “simply catch up with other departments”

Faced with this situation, the unions are detailing an “emergency plan”, with thousands of additional positions for teachers but also for supervisors, CPEs and even those accompanying students with disabilities. “We are simply asking for means to catch up with the other departments, not to reach for the stars. It is a plan which would cost around 358 million euros and we think that we can be granted that”underlines Théo, professor of history and geography in a college in Tremblay-en-France.

Added to these local demands is anger at the knowledge shock measures, wanted by the government, including in particular the question of level groups, in maths and French, which irritate some of the teachers. Actions are still planned throughout the week, including a strike and a demonstration on Thursday, up to the Ministry of National Education.