Secretary of State Sarah el-Hairi wants to make the SNU compulsory in six departments, before expanding the experiment, according to a note that franceinfo was able to consult.
The National Universal Service (SNU) could gradually become compulsory from September 2024. This is the path favored by the Minister of National Education, according to a working document from the ministry dated December 2, 2022 that franceinfo was able to consult, confirming a information from Politics. According to this note, the ministry wishes to make the SNU compulsory in six departments, before expanding the experiment. It is Emmanuel Macron who will make the final decision. The President of the Republic was to do so in January but the pension reform forced him to postpone his decision. The Elysée promises arbitrations in the spring of 2023.
The SNU consists of a compulsory 12-day cohesion stay which takes place outside the department or region of residence of the young person, then of an optional period of commitment which can take the form of civic service. or commitment to the reserves. This stay will take place during school time. According to the ministry’s document, the typical day of the cohesion stay begins at 6:30 a.m. and ends at 10:30 p.m. “Republican rituals (raising the flag, Marseilles…) are an integral part of the elements that punctuate and give a framework to each day”, clarifies the text. An outfit “commune” to all young people will be provided, and the use of mobile phones will be prohibited during the day.
800,000 young people per year concerned
Any young Frenchman, educated in general or technological second class or in the first year of CAP, is concerned by the SNU, and failing that, any young Frenchman, girl or boy, aged 16, not attending school. He or she will not be able to choose his place of employment or his date of convocation, but may benefit from a postponement in the event of force majeure. About 800,000 young people per year are concerned. The ministry insists on “principles of the UNS” which are “diversity and social and territorial mixing”. And if the young person completes the full course of the Universal National Service, he or she will see his driving license fully funded.
The Secretary of State at the SNU confirms to franceinfo that a generalization of the Universal National Service is indeed the path favored by the ministry. But it will not necessarily be mandatory. He ensures that other hypotheses are being studied, such as an incentive SNU with, in particular, training for the driving license offered for any SNU carried out.
32,000 volunteers in 2022
Launched in 2019 on a voluntary basis, the National Universal Service offers adolescents aged 15 to 17 the opportunity to participate in a free cohesion stay including sports, cultural and intellectual activities. The young people then take part in a mission of general interest for 84 hours in connection with an army service, an association or even an administration. Its objectives are to “strengthening the resilience of the nation”of “developing social cohesion” and of “promoting a culture of engagement”.
Two thousand young volunteers in 13 departments took part in the first experiment in 2019. In 2021, 15,000 young people took part in cohesion internships throughout France. In 2022, the SNU mobilized 32,000 volunteers, 69% were in second class and 55.9% of those registered were girls.