Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: CAROLINE BLUMBERG / POOL / AFP
8:09 p.m., September 27, 2024
The Senate drew up a critical assessment of the “30 minutes of daily physical activity” system at school, launched in 2020 by the government. In this report published Friday, the Senate considers that its implementation was “fragmented” and calls for it to be “given new life”.
The Senate published on Friday a harsh report concerning the “30 minutes of daily physical activity” (APQ) system launched in 2020, highlighting significant shortcomings in its implementation and calling for reforms to improve its effectiveness.
“Only 42% of primary schools definitely implement the APQ for more than half of their students,” indicates this report which refers to a survey by the General Directorate of School Education of the Ministry of Education (Dgesco), stressing that this assessment is “far from presidential satisfaction”. This data contrasts sharply with the optimistic statements of Emmanuel Macron, who stated that around 90% of primary school children benefited from this program.
Call for increased mobilization
The report also criticizes the lack of clarity of the objectives of the system, noting that it was “presented late” and raised many questions among teachers. Many perceived this initiative as an additional burden in already limited school time, fearing that this would compromise the teaching of physical and sports education (PE) in favor of activities considered less qualitative.
The authors of the report deplore the absence of a public health evaluation concerning the impact of these 30 minutes of physical activity. They recommend measuring the effect of the system on students’ sedentary lifestyle and removing obstacles to guarantee its sustainability beyond the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. “Many people have perceived this declaration as the need to add 30 minutes of sport per day to school time which is not extendable,” he adds, and many teachers “saw it as a disappearance ” of PE (Physical and sports education) “in favor of cheap teaching limited to getting the student to move”.
Among the recommendations are the involvement of after-school workers, the training of at least one teacher per school on physical activity, and the mobilization of parents through challenges to be carried out outside of school time. Promised by Emmanuel Macron, the generalization of these 30 minutes of physical activity for primary schools had been criticized by several teaching unions. The Senate report therefore calls for a real renewal of the APQ, in order to guarantee its effectiveness and to truly combat the sedentary lifestyle of young students.
