The Minister of Education, Gabriel Attal, asked Thursday, August 24 before the rectors that the school be “firm” in the face of attacks on secularism, such as religious outfits, calling on his audience to “unite”.
“Our school is tested. In recent months, religious outfits such as abayas or qamis have appeared in certain establishments. The firmness of the school’s response is put to the test by these new phenomena, in the face of the battering, in the face of attacks, in the face of attempts at destabilization. We have to unite. And we are going to unite, ”assured the minister before the rectors gathered at the Sorbonne, in Paris.
Gabriel Attal will inform them “formally and in the very next few days of the course of action to be taken for the start of the school year in this area”. “We’re going to have to be tough on this,” the minister warned.
Reintroduction in 1st year of mathematics within the common core
The traditional back-to-school speech before the rectors, a first for Mr. Attal, took place the day after the publication of an interview with Emmanuel Macron in Le Point in which he spoke at length about the school. , now presented as its “reserved domain”.
During his speech, Mr. Attal also considered that France “has a need for a shock of knowledge”, which he wishes to decline from this start of the school year via “training teachers, experimenting with the opening of colleges from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in each academy or even the reintroduction of mathematics in the 1st year of the common core”.
Regarding the National Council for Refoundation (CNR) on the school, wanted by Emmanuel Macron, Gabriel Attal asked the rectors “to shed light on innovations” and that “from September, each establishment that does not have it encore fait engages in a CNR project with a first restitution in the winter”.
The Minister also addressed the issue of the attractiveness of the teaching profession, insisting that “recognition will not stop at remuneration”. “I will therefore launch a major plan for the attractiveness and recognition of the teaching profession to encourage more and more of our young people to become teachers and to remain so,” he announced.
