Quotas (too) strict?
The establishment shares its establishment with the first degree of secondary education, which allows significant educational continuity to properly follow the common trunk project, according to the director. But that is not enough to compensate for the demographic erosion experienced by many rural municipalities.
The Buzenol school is looking for a kindergarten student to survive
“We have already benefited from two years of exemption to 80%, but now, it’s 50 students, not one less”underlines Murielle Gratia. “Quotas are defined according to local demography and the presence or not of neighboring schools. But in an implantation like ours, we feel forgotten. With one student, we can close.”
Generalized stress
This climate of uncertainty weighs on the entire educational team, and far beyond. Teachers, parents and especially children live in a form of permanent tension. “Some parents are very stressed. They do not know which other school to turn to. And then, this is where their children found a balance to learn at their own pace”she adds. “With the common trunk that is generalized, it is even more essential to have this continuity in the same place.”
An open letter was sent to the Minister of Higher Education, Valérie Glatigny, to alert this situation which, every summer, is repeated in several rural schools in the region.
Deadline: August 14
The date of August 14 has been set as a deadline. It allows families to anticipate a possible closure and find a folding solution for their children. But if the school should nevertheless close after this date, it is the organizing power that should assume the financial burden of the wages of August and September. An additional pressure, which shows how tense the situation is.
In Habay as elsewhere, the fight to maintain the small open schools exceeds the simple question of staff. It affects the balance of territories, social cohesion and equitable access to quality education, even in the most remote corners.