It is D -Day for the 115,000 Mayotte students, who return to school from Monday in degraded conditions, by swing, a month and a half after the ravages caused by the Chido cyclone.
The start of the students, scheduled for January 13 in the French archipelago of the Indian Ocean, was first offset at 20, then at 27, to deal with the damage caused by Chido, then by the Dikeledi storm.
Despite calls for a new postponement, the Academy has maintained its calendar, invoking the need to keep in touch with the students and not compromise their chances of the exams.
But not everyone is of this opinion, and some parents anticipate a fiasco.
Mirelane Miradji, mother of two children enrolled in CE1 and in kindergarten, estimates that “The conditions are not good”.
A maintenance agent in a primary school in the village of Passamainty, in Mayotte, January 25, 2025 / Marine Gachet / AFP
“Hygiene in sanitary facilities and dilapidated premises will not be there. I would have preferred to wait for the establishments to be in good condition to put them back to school. It is an in-between that is not satisfactory ”she testified to AFP.
Teachers returned to school last Monday, discovering sometimes very damaged establishments.
The Ministry of Education promised progressive delivery on Sunday evening “From the start of the school year” of notebooks, pens, and other supplies but also tables and chairs.
In the first degree, out of the 221 schools, 45 will not be able to reopen on Monday “Due to too large damage”it is indicated from the same source. For secondary school, four establishments will remain closed, according to the press release.
“All other establishments will welcome students according to an adapted organization taking into account local realities”assures the ministry.
“Saturated”
Before Chido, Mayotte’s school system, the poorest department in France, where half of the inhabitants under the age of 18 and does not speak French, was already faulty.
In 2022, a report from the Regional Chamber of Accounts (CRC) described establishments “Saturated” and a frame “Degraded requiring significant renovation work”.
All the establishments in the archipelago are nevertheless classified as a REP or REP+priority network.
-“The lack of premises has led the municipalities for many years to establish a rotation system in primary schools: half of the students have class in the morning, the other in the afternoon”noted the CRC, drawing up a catastrophic inventory, only 8,200 secondary students out of 48,000 that can, for example, benefit from a hot meal for lunch.
Thursday, a demonstration denounced the « bricolage » Back to school brought together around 300 teachers in Mamoudzou, according to teachers.
“It's the total blur, we cannot say how many children will be there”regretted the same day Adda Fatihysoundi, president of the Federation of Parents' Councils (FCPE) of Mayotte, judging that this school year was “Premature” and security conditions not guaranteed everywhere.
Overseas Minister Manuel Valls recognized in an interview with Ouest-France published on Saturday that the start of the school year would take place “Under conditions that will necessarily be difficult”. It is expected on site Thursday and Friday alongside the Minister of National Education Elisabeth Borne.
A worker repairs the door of a class of the Zakia Madi college, in the village of Dembéni in Mayotte, January 22, 2025 / Marine Gachet / AFP / Archives
Some establishments have “10% of their affected building, others 80%, but none of them was completely spared”estimates Bruno Dezile, departmental secretary of the CGT Educ'Action, who also alerts to “Pillages” and “Many intrusions” who touched establishments after the storm.
According to the schedules broadcast by the rectorate, middle and high school students will be welcomed one to two days during the start of the school year.
French and mathematics lessons are also broadcast every day on the Mayotte channel the 1st for school students from CE2 to the 3rd.
The teachers also wonder about the state of psychological trauma of their students and do not always know how many of them they will find on the benches this week.
Psychological listening cells have been set up in three colleges, while a telephone listening service is available free 24 hours a day.
Some parents have chosen to educate their child outside Mayotte. To date, this concerns nearly 1,200 students, including 422 on Reunion Island, specifies the ministry.
Dje-Tbm-Hdu-Al/BFA/JCO
