In the heart of the city centre, the shock team of Belsunce, a private establishment under contract, has put itself at the service of the children of a working-class neighbourhood. With, as a result, good exam results.
It is a small middle school-high school of 250 students located a stone’s throw from the rue du Bon-Pasteur and its Marché du soleil, a real souk of the 2nde district of Marseille, where djellabas, counterfeit sports brands, figs and Algerian pastries are sold. A deprived area where poor housing and its demolition permits based on bailiff’s report rub shoulders with the rehabilitation sites of the Euroméditerranée project. “The gentrification is starting,” smiles Giuliano Scala, the deputy director. A few years ago, we had 85% scholarship holders, today it’s 80%!”
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Belsunce is one of the rare private establishments under contract located where children from disadvantaged backgrounds are concentrated, surrounded by public schools in a reinforced priority education zone (REP +). It takes its name from the Archbishop of Marseille Monseigneur de Belsunce who, in 1727, created this college dedicated to the poorest. Since 1987, it has left the bosom of Catholic education. But has kept its primary social vocation.
Increased registration requests
The registration fees are low. At 470 euros per year maximum, it is “the equivalent of the back-to-school bonus, so that it costs almost nothing to families”, argues Dominique Astic, its director. A far cry from the prices charged in private high schools attended by the bourgeoisie.
So the establishment is not rolling in money. “The premises are dilapidated,” confirms the management. No green spaces, no sports equipment, no practical work laboratories. It’s a makeshift system. “The art teacher has started beautification work with the high school students,” explains the director, proud of the graffiti on the entrance gate, the walls repainted azure blue and the mosaics assembled to fill the potholes in the courtyard.
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Despite these challenges[…]
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