Roadmap presented to the Assembly, strikes, possible return of François Bayrou… Amélie Oudéa-Castéra filled with questions

In the turmoil, Oudéa-Castéra presented its “road map” to the Assembly this Tuesday. MAXPPP – CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON

Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, the Minister of Education and Sports, tried to change the situation this Tuesday, February 6 at the National Assembly, presenting her "sheet of road" in front of the deputies despite the incessant rumors of departure and a second teachers' strike in less than a week.

"The French expect a lot from their school. They are right", and "I want to answer them with as much clarity as possible, with energy", assured Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra on Tuesday afternoon, during a hearing before the Committee on Cultural Affairs and Education at the Assembly national.

Faced with repeated controversies since her appointment on January 11, Oudéa-Castéra presented her "roadmap"~60 for 2 hours and 15 minutes ~/em>, looking ahead to his duties while the appointment of the second half of the Attal government is still awaited.

The hypothesis of a return to rue de Grenelle by François Bayrou to replace her has been the subject of numerous speculations since his acquittal in the affair of the European parliamentary assistants of the MoDem. François Bayrou, "it's a strong possibility", estimated this Tuesday, February 6, a majority executive, who< em> "does not see" how Amélie Oudéa-Castéra "can still have the necessary authority to lead the reforms". 

While waiting to know her fate, the minister tried to reassure the deputies, particularly on the reforms of the "shock of knowledge", announced by Gabriel Attal in December, and particularly on the establishment of level groups in French and mathematics in 6th and 5th grade classes, a measure widely rejected by the teaching unions.< /p>

The creation of these groups is "a development made necessary by the deterioration of results" and to "restart the school elevator", pleaded the minister, who affirmed that the government did not want to "put an end to the single college" and "create level classes".

"War from another age"

Previously, the one who created the controversy with her statements on "packets of unreplaced hours" at the public school had responded to the deputies that opposing public and private schools was a "war from another age".
"The school war, it's you who are reviving it", she said to the PS deputy Arthur Delaporte, under the heckling of some deputies shouting "François Bayrou".

Punished for having educated her children in the conservative private institution Stanislas, Ms. Oudéa-Castéra promised in committee a working group "to ensure that we of a full, complete and effective application" of secularism in private establishments.

On the grill in the Assembly, the minister also had to face a new teachers' strike this Tuesday, after a day of action which mobilized at least one teacher out of five on February 1.
This Tuesday, 3.2% of staff were on strike at all levels and 9.52% in colleges, according to the ministry. The Snes-FSU union, the main union in middle and high schools, estimated the rate of teachers on strike in middle schools at 40%.

This union called, with the CGT and SUD, for this new day of mobilization to defend wages and oppose educational policy at college. In their sights: the application for the next school year of the reforms of "shock of knowledge", including level groups.

"Knowledge Flop"

In Paris, a few hundred people marched in the afternoon towards the ministry. On signs, we could read: "beware of the flop of knowledge" or "Let's keep the class , let's avoid classifying. "The clash of knowledge ignited the powder", Michaël Marcilloux explained to AFP, co-secretary general of the CGT Educ'action.

There were around 450 in Lyon, 200 in Lille and Marseille, according to the authorities, and around a hundred in Toulouse according to the AFP. More broadly, the Sud Education, Unsa Education, FSU, Sgen-CFDT and CGT Educ'action unions called for a "week of actions from 5 to 9 February" for "defend public schools", "demand the opening of immediate discussions on salaries" and "the abandonment of the measures of shock of knowledge".