The school health policy is undermined in an information report by Renaissance deputy Robin Reda, presented on May 10 to the National Assembly, reports Le Parisien. To illustrate the problem, the daily cites a figure in particular: less than 20% of 6-year-old students pass the medical examination, which is supposed to be compulsory. “The non-diagnosis of a child who sees badly, expresses himself badly, hears badly, this plays on his academic success, and cynically, on the health insurance budget”, notes the report of the parliamentarian from Essonne . Thus, the school has become the first medical desert in France.
The report also sheds light on understaffing in the ranks of school doctors and nurses. School doctors are less than 900 in France for 60,000 establishments, “a third is missing”, assures Robin Reda. The text explains that their number has dropped by 20% in ten years. Among nurses, the situation remains similar. “There are 7,800 of us in France and we do 18 million operations each year,” says Valérie Wolff, nurse, Snics-FSU delegate.
Students in nursing training are three times more likely to drop out of their first year in 2021 than in 2011, according to a study published by the Department of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics. 10% of first-year female students dropped out in 2021, up from 3% in 2011, according to the study. As a result of this development, the number of female graduates per year fell by 7% between the years 2010 and 2021.
To remedy this situation, the deputy Renaissance pleads for “a revaluation shock” and a “refoundation of the system”. The unions representing nurses in National Education and Higher Education, SNICS-FSU and SNIES-UNSA, are organizing a white march in Paris on May 23 to denounce the lack of means of social education policy and health benefits for pupils, as well as the weakness of the specific training of nurses.
