Having come out on top in the first round of the legislative elections in the second constituency of Loir-et-Cher, Roger Chudeau is participating in the development of the educational policy of the National Rally (RN).
This former headmaster who became an inspector general and worked in the offices of Gilles de Robien and François Fillon assures us that the very strong concern expressed by several National Education unions, faced with an RN victory in the second round, is unfounded.
Several National Education unions have expressed their great concern about the National Rally (RN) program. Is it legitimate?
“This concern is a bit excessive, almost overplayed when it comes to unions which, in any case, are calling for a vote against the National Rally. There is not only unionism in this affair, there is also politics.
“These concerns are unfounded. What we are proposing is to redress, to rebuild a school weakened by decades of erratic policy, successive reforms that were never evaluated, never carried out and sometimes contradictory. We want to give back to our school, to National Education, a little serenity and make it regain the efficiency that it should never have ceased to have.
“So I don’t really see why they are worried. They should rather welcome the program that we are going to implement, if the voters want it.”
But when a management staff union maintains that the RN is not a republican party, how can we talk about serenity?
“The premise they are starting from is absurd. We cannot treat a party that has brought together millions of voters as non-republican. It makes no sense and is profoundly anti-democratic. What is worrying about them is that they announce in advance that they are practicing a kind of civil disobedience. They are civil servants and they have no kind of competence or legitimacy to say that.
“The 1983 law on the civil service is very clear: public officials must remain neutral in all circumstances and serve a government resulting from legitimate democratic elections. I do not even understand how they can, to this extent, dare to question in advance the decision of the French people. I do not know if they have received a correct civic education, but if the sovereign people decide to send us to power, there is no problem of legitimacy or of the Republic or of democracy.
“I am a little troubled, especially by what some executives are saying. It is not appropriate. I served 45 years in National Education, under all sorts of majorities. I have never done anything other than obey, with the greatest zeal, the instructions and directives that were given to me.”
These teachers or management staff should tone it down a little and remember their duty.
Roger Chudeau, outgoing MP for Loir-et-Cher, is Mr. School at the RN
If the RN wins, is it therefore possible that National Education personnel who criticize your policy will be subject to sanctions?
“Sanctions may be going a little too far. But I think they are failing to comply with the regulations and that at the very least, they should be called to order. It’s the least they can do.
“These teachers or management staff should at least tone it down a little and remember their duty. But also remember that since they are responsible for education, they cannot under any circumstances set an example for students of unfounded rebellion. Can you imagine? What can a principal do who decides not to obey his minister, when his students tell him “we don’t like the principal, or he’s not good, or he has opinions that we don’t like, so we don’t respect the internal regulations, we do what we want”?
Faced with such a balance of power, how can the RN consider working with the National Education unions?
“The situation we are experiencing is largely due to the hysteria of public debate. It is becoming almost ridiculous. We are described as enemies of freedom when precisely we want to restore it.
“Once the elections are over, everyone will have to come to their senses and become the good citizen they must never stop being. We cannot hold on to extremist or out of step positions in an institution like the National Assembly. I am quite optimistic: after the posturing – because it is posturing, political posturing of circumstance and which is classic – everyone will come to their senses and come to the negotiating table when it is necessary, for example, to talk about the training and remuneration of teachers.”
You have been a headmaster, an academy inspector, an advisor to Gilles de Robien on rue de Grenelle and to François Fillon at Matignon. Can you imagine yourself leading the Ministry of National Education?
“That’s a question I can’t answer. It doesn’t interest the French, it’s not current. But whoever the minister is, if Jordan Bardella is at the head of the government and if we can govern properly, that is to say with a sufficient majority, this minister will obviously be keen to implement the program for which we were elected.”
