There are many files for the start of the school year, and the president will be there. In any case, this is the message that Emmanuel Macron tried to convey on Monday evening, in a long interview with Hugo Travers and broadcast on his YouTube channel “HugoDécrypte”. A back-to-school interview devoted to “the future of young people”, in which the Head of State spoke about the sites he wishes to open in the months to come. The Elysée tenant notably returned to the ban on the abaya, announced by his Minister of National Education, Gabriel Attal, and which continues to arouse criticism.
After Elisabeth Borne on Sunday, it is therefore Emmanuel Macron’s turn to provide after-sales service for this measure. “The minister was right to be clear,” said the head of state from the outset, not hesitating to “congratulate” the youngest of the macronie. “It doesn’t stigmatize anyone,” he added. Because “it is a subject where you have to be intractable. Now everyone has to get on board.” According to the Head of State, it is a question of responding to a situation jeopardizing “free, secular and compulsory” schooling. “We don’t want to know where (our children) come from, what they think. It is an element of justice, because it is republicans and citizens that we train.
Emmanuel Macron took the opportunity to address the issue of the uniform, which Gabriel Attal wants to experiment with in the fall. Rather favorable to an experiment on the scale of the heads of establishments, the tenant of the Élysée finally also validated this announcement, relating the “pressure” which weighs on the subject. “Experimenting, evaluating, will help inform public debate,” he argued. Claiming to be inclined to “avoid outfits that refer to a religion, because it excludes you and separates you”, and “avoid outfits that put social stigma” or are “too eccentric”, for the same reasons.
An argument of “justice” taken up in the evocation of school holidays, which the Head of State wishes to rethink. The subject must be open, “without taboo” and through consultation. “Do we have the best conditions for learning? The answer is no,” he said. Before assuring that the big holidays are actually “the worst inequality”. “A young man from a popular neighborhood, he comes back on September 1, he does not have his level of July 1. He usually has his level in mid-May, end of May.” Emmanuel Macron also wants to integrate more sports and cultural activities into school time, starting in primary school.
In this exchange dedicated to youth, the tenant of the Élysée also dwelt on the question of ecology. A roadmap dedicated to ecological planning, long awaited, must be presented by Élisabeth Borne in the coming days. In particular, it will include targets for “drastic” greenhouse gas reductions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050.
More targeted measures, such as the introduction of an unlimited pass for local transport already in place in Germany, are also being studied by the Ministry of Transport in partnership with the regions. Particularly awaited by the youngest, after an once again scorching summer, Emmanuel Macron spoke of “a generational fight”. “It is our responsibility, we will be there for the results.”