Trying to get back on the path to a normal life, one month after Cyclone Chido. In Mayotte, teachers and administrative teams return to school this Monday, January 20, after a one-week postponement due to the passage of storm Dikeledi. Students will return gradually “from January 27”, indicated the new Minister of Education, Élisabeth Borne in an interview with Parisian. She will go there that week.
Not all establishments will be able to reopen. “Out of 221 schools, 39 are unable to operate. And out of the 33 middle and high schools, 5 establishments are significantly impacted. The latter will not be able to accommodate full capacity and will require adaptations,” said Jacques Mikulovic, the rector of Mayotte, on Tuesday. France Culture. During a meeting with the unions on January 9, Élisabeth Borne promised them the systematic passage of safety commissions in establishments before the start of the school year to authorize or not the return of students.
“It won’t really be a return to school, more a resumption”
Teaching conditions will be adapted on a case-by-case basis. Due to lack of space, many primary schools were already implementing student rotations before the cyclone. These half-day alternations will be reinforced in certain establishments. School tents will also be set up here and there and certain students, whose establishment has been too damaged, will be taken by bus to other schools.
In the second level, “we will prioritize exam classes and professional sectors in establishments which are not at full capacity”, indicated Jacques Mikulovic during a press conference. Distance learning via the National Center for Distance Education (Cned) and Lumni courses from France Télévisions will also be mobilized, as well as distance tutoring. “But this solution will not work for many students, who no longer have access to the Internet,” predicts Vital Kuola, academic secretary of the SE-UNSA union in Mayotte.
Faced with this diversity of solutions, “it will not really be a return to school, rather a resumption”, estimates Sophie Vénétitay, general secretary of Snes-FSU. “The level of the students will take a hit. And if student rotations increase, they risk not completing the program,” fears Vital Kuola.
“We will have a large majority of teachers present”
Big unknown: the number of teachers who will be present this Monday. Because some, who have gone to mainland France for the holidays, could choose not to return. “Especially since 20% of school teachers and 50% of secondary school teachers are contract workers and their homes have sometimes been destroyed,” says Vital Kuola.
-Contacted by our newspaper, the Mayotte rectorate cannot currently give figures on possible defections. “We will have a large majority of teachers present,” assured Jacques Mikulovic, even if he foresees “no doubt some losses. »
A strike notice filed
Another source of dissatisfaction for them: exceptional aid was granted to certain agents of the Mayotte rectorate, but not to all. “However, the cyclone did not distinguish between people earning the lowest salaries and others when it hit,” insists Vital Kuola.
A notice of a renewable strike has therefore been filed by the inter-union for Monday, but for the moment it is not accompanied by a call for a strike. During her meeting with the unions on January 9, Élisabeth Borne indicated that she would study the file. “But we have no news on this subject,” indicates Sophie Vénétitay. The Minister of Education also announced that she had launched a consultation for a plan to attract and retain teachers. An approach more urgent than ever.
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