In France, the birth rate is still falling. According to INSEE figures released yesterday, there were 663,000 births last year and this is the lowest figure since 1946. So in certain municipalities, we are doing everything to try to reverse the trend, as in the village of Bellot, in Seine-et-Marne, which has 790 inhabitants and fewer and fewer children. This decline in births has already very concrete effects on the village.
In 2022, Mayor Frédéric Morel issued a decree that was surprising to say the least. He encouraged residents to have children to prevent the closure of a class at the municipal school. A humorous measure not really followed by effects. In his office, among all these papers and sticky notes, the school file is at the top of the pile.
“Next year, we will probably have a class closure because we have 10 fewer children every year. The birth rate is falling and it's catastrophic. I was talking with a young person who is 27 years old, he was with his companion. For them, life is too insecure today. They are afraid of losing their job. The child is really not at the heart of the couple,” he laments.
Deleting a class
Deleting a class means reorganizing everything. Today, there are four classes which each bring together two levels. From next year, a class could bring together three levels, for example from CP to CE2. When leaving school, this potential closure is worrying.
“We can still see it, there is a town hall marked under school. At the time, it was the opposite, additional classes were needed and they had taken over the town hall space,” says Mayor Frédérick Morel.
“Three levels is not possible because their teacher does not have the time to deal with so many students and different levels. This is not normal, we really put aside the education of our children“, declares Vanessa, accompanied by her two daughters Zoa and Léna.
The threat of a complete closure
The other option: close the school and send the 78 students to the next town, two kilometers away, with a larger establishment and one class per level. But it's not that simple. In the town's garage, the manager Christophe Marion, who arrived here in 2021 with his four-year-old son, fears this closure.
“My wife is at the office so she wouldn't be able to start work on time and opening the garage would be a mess,” he confides. Enough to call into question his installation in the village. The town would then lose residents. A vicious circle feared by the mayor. Because fewer inhabitants would automatically have repercussions on village life and especially on businesses.
Florence has been running the village grocery store for eight years. For her, fewer students at school means less attendance.”It can still change a lot of things, because I still have a lot of people from school who come to get the bread , cakes, children, sweets, obviously.”
Attract new residents
There are also human consequences. Right next door, in the tobacco bar, Eric, a 63-year-old retiree, is also worried. “In every village, a school is a symbol. A school, a church, even a small bar. Otherwise, afterwards, we have nothing. Afterwards, we become strangers. So now, we need families who arrive with children. We have no choice,” he says.
Attract new residents to prevent Bellot from becoming a ghost village. This is the mission of Mayor Frédéric Morel. The key, building new housing. Problem, almost all building land is already occupied. The puzzle seems insoluble.
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