the unions and the left outraged, the RN says “bravo”

The President of the Republic devoted a large part of his press conference to the theme of education on Tuesday evening. His proposals and his defense of Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra aroused strong criticism, particularly on the left.

Education has been at the center of political news in recent weeks. The controversy surrounding the Minister ofEducation, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, has vampirized the debates in recent days, with calls for her resignation coming from both the opposition and the teaching unions. Questioned during a press conference on the evening of Tuesday January 16, Emmanuel Macron estimated that the minister “was right to apologize” after his comments on public schools, which caused an outcry. The President of the Republic has also increased the number of announcements on education, from the uniform to the Marseillaise through to graduation ceremonies.

Dhe presidential proposals which were warmly welcomed by the unions and the left-wing opposition. “It’s quite distressing, dismaying to see this president who talks about the schools of the past, who recycles but who absolutely does not understand the challenges of the schools of today and tomorrow, while “we are almost in a situation of collapse of public schools”lamented this Tuesday on franceinfo Sophie Vénétitay, the general secretary of the SNES-FSU union.

Unions outraged

The President of the Republic wanted civil servants to be paid more “on merit”a reform that he intends to carry out “in the next weeks”. The reactions of the unions were quick, with a scathing press release from the Unitary Trade Union Federation (FSU) published on the social network X. “The announcements have so far recycled old recipes: remuneration based on so-called merit, managerial management of careers destroying collective logic”wrote the union.

Élisabeth Allain-Moreno, general secretary of the SE-Unsa teachers’ union, denounced the presidential plan to “rebuilding civic education“. “The disconnection of a head of state is serious. As long as he is poorly informed and unaware of what the school is already doing. If these are lies, it is unacceptable and contemptuous!“, she denounced on X.

The left criticizes the choice of “barracks” or “uniform”

Emmanuel Macron also announced that school uniforms would be tested this year “in around a hundred voluntary establishments” and that it could be generalized in 2026. “He spoke of ‘young people who are not lucky enough to have families who take them to the sea or to the mountains’. The president should choose something other than the barracks or the uniform and take up our proposed laws for the right to vacation!”criticized, also on X, the environmentalist deputy Benjamin Lucas.

Another presidential announcement: a graduation ceremony could also be reinstated “from this year” to college. “The great thing… What a shame that our president was never elected locally. He would know that it’s already happening…”railed communist senator Ian Brossat.

The proposal on the Marseillaise pinned down by journalists, the “bravo” of the RN

Several journalists quickly reacted to Emmanuel Macron’s desire to teach the Marseillaise “at primary”. “Macron ‘favorable’ to compulsory learning of Marseillaise at school. That’s good, this has already been the case since the orientation law on schools of… 2005″said Nils Wilcke on X. “Learning the Marseillaise at school, something new since 1985. It was already a highly publicized announcement by the Minister of Education at the time, Jean-Pierre Chevènement”added Louise Tourret, journalist at France Culture.

These measures are in any case acclaimed by the RN. “On the Marseillaise at school, the uniform, civic education, we say bravo because in fact we see that all our measures have been taken up over the years”estimated Philippe Ballard, spokesperson for the RN, Tuesday evening on franceinfo.