After his visit to Najac, the Minister of National Education, Edouard Jefre, went to Laguiole, where he met with the children of the city’s eco-entertainment center. The opportunity to share with them a walk through the village, where the program included getting to know the local fauna and flora.
But in addition to meeting the children, the visit gave Edouard Geffret the opportunity to “discuss with elected officials numerous topics regarding the future of schools in rural areas, demographics, as well as broader topics such as access to health care, housing, etc.” Areas that play and will play on the attractiveness of the territories and, therefore, on the school demographics. A particularly sensitive topic in rural areas such as Aveyron, where the outlines of school maps redrawn every year are always eagerly awaited.
Summer holidays ‘a little shorter’
Édouard Jefré also mentioned the main theme of his visit: “There is a kind of symbiosis between the association partners, the local authorities and the school around the child, so that, in essence, different times are learning times.” Learning that takes place, of course, in school, but also outside its walls, at the request of the Minister of National Education, through these entertainment centers.
But summer also rhymes with long periods outside of school, when some ideas about the school curriculum gradually fade away. And where certain inequalities are increasing. The issue of shortening these holidays was particularly raised by Emmanuel Macron, then Minister of National Education, who nevertheless believes that the issue should be “approached with great caution. So in theory, the ideal would be for the holidays to start a little differently and for the summer holidays to be a little shorter,” says Edouard Geffré. “Everyone now knows that there are heat waves, some of which now start in May and which I hope will end in September.”
In any case, the Minister of National Education is not promoting a short-term summer holiday reform project: “This is something that could in any case be rethought in the coming years. But there is no point in rushing,” concludes Edouard Geffray. Thus, a topic that may return to the debate and which one or more candidates in the presidential election may raise.