Pensions, back to school, air travel, STI screening… what’s changing from September 1st

Ce qui change au 1er septembre pour les élèves, les retraités, les voyageurs.

Plusieurs nouveautés sont à noter en cette rentrée scolaire. Outre la mise en place de plusieurs innovations pour les élèves, des changements sont à noter pour votre quotidien et votre porte-monnaie. On fait le point.

Back to school

New year, new things. This new school year, which takes place this Monday, September 2, is no exception to the rule and despite her resigning government, the Minister of Education Nicole Belloubet did not hold back from making a few announcements.

Digital break

This year, starting in September, some colleges are experimenting with something new. Students in these guinea pig schools will no longer have access to their mobile phones at all. While the law already requires that phones be turned off and put away while students are in the school, this experiment aims to prohibit access to the device even within the college grounds. If the experiment is a success, the system will be extended to all establishments from January 2025.

Level groups

Level groups in 6th and 5th grade in middle school, a controversial measure by the outgoing government, will be implemented "with flexibility and pragmatism", declared Education Minister Nicole Belloubet on Tuesday, August 27.

Held unique

This return to school also means experimenting with the return of the uniform. 90 establishments, including 70 primary schools, will thus test the single outfit. In the region, several establishments are concerned, such as in Pérols, Béziers or La Grande-Motte.

Read also: Back to school: level groups, future of the brevet, ban on mobile phones… details from Nicole Belloubet

STI screening

As of this Sunday, September 1st, new in terms of health, screening for STIs (sexually transmitted infections) will now be "covered by health insurance at 100% for those under 26 and 60% for the rest of the population”, the Ministry of Health indicates. Screening will include, in addition to HIV, the following infections: chlamydia trachomatis, gonococcus, syphilis and hepatitis B.

Liquid containers at airports

The European Commission will once again impose the “100 ml rule” from 1 September in airports that had removed this limit. Airports such as Paris-Orly, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Amsterdam-Schiphol and Frankfurt had repealed this rule, well known to travellers, by installing scanners capable of differentiating the contents of cabin baggage and detecting explosives, allowing passengers to carry more than 100 ml of liquids in their luggage.

Read also: Bad news for travellers: this rule will be reintroduced in some European airports from 1 September

The reintroduction of the ban is due to flaws discovered in the C3 scanners used during boarding checks, which showed deficiencies in the detection of explosives.

Pension revaluation

Good news for some retirees, their pension will be revalued from September 1st. An increase of 50 to 60 euros, with a catch-up planned for the year 2024. This increase is part of the pension reform. RMC indicates that it concerns retirees who have had a full career and who receive a basic pension of less than 847 euros and a total pension of less than 1,352 euros.

Administrative relief for farmers

A decree adapts the rules of administrative litigation mainly concerning agricultural hydraulic works and livestock installations from this first of September. This new measure is part of the government's response to the anger of farmers who demonstrated massively at the beginning of the year. Specifically, the period for appealing against agricultural projects and hydraulic works will be reduced from 4 to 2 months.