“We ask you to reconsider your decision to interrupt the teaching process”, write these parents of students to the French authorities.
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They are determined to be heard. More than 200 parents of students from the French Lycée in Moscow called on the French authorities, judging that the recall of all teachers, a consequence of the conflict in Ukraine, put “in danger” the existence of the school and the education of their children. “We understand that the political situation (…) is particularly critical. However, since there is no security risk for the people residing in Moscow, we ask you to reconsider your decision to interrupt the teaching process”write the 261 signatories.
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Letters were sent to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, to Brigitte Macron, the wife of the French president and former teacher, to the French ambassador and to the deputy of French people living abroad Anne Genetet.
The principal of the Lycée français, Nicolas Ruellan, had announced on March 8 in a very brief e-mail that all French personnel were leaving Russia and the establishment of a “distance teaching continuity from March 15”. Previously, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had “recommended to French nationals, whose presence and that of their family is not essential in Russia, to leave the country as long as this is still possible”arguing the scarcity of air links due to Western sanctions.
The parents of students note that it “remaining teachers in Moscow and that some are ready to return to resume classes”. “We urge you to allow our eight hundred children to complete the school year and take their diplomas face-to-face”, they ask. The Agency for French Education Abroad (AEFE) says it wants to re-examine the situation at the end of March.