On Saturday, Jan. 29, Blanquer was the OEED visitor and spoke in half an hour about the state of education. As the historic mobilization of education workers on Jan. 13 did not take place, Blanquer continued to despise the teachers there, saying the staff “ defeated by Omicron and not because of the government’s refusal to provide them with a real way to manage the crisis. The minister again praised his administration, downplayed the risk of the health situation and explained the problems of the virus.
So Blanquer admitted throughout the interview that the schools remain open at all costs. The Minister found it normal to announce the protocol from Sunday to Monday, as he could not ” something else was done “, and he found it normal that the protocol was changed four times in ten days, considered” there must be adaptation, there must be changes “. At the same time, he said he was shocked and burdened by the lack of tests (important to his protocol), which he explained in terms of the number of people infected and where, in fact, his administration was. government is primarily responsible.
“Teachers under average the most contaminated professions”
The day before the interview, 21,049 classes were closed in France and half a million students tested positive in the last 7 days were counted. As for teachers, there were a total of 37,000 who tested positive in a week. However, Blanquer continued to insist, unashamedly, that ” Teachers are below average for the most contaminated professions “and that they have” less serious symptoms “. The scandalous statements, which are not based on any factual data, and which once again question the minister’s” estimates “, in a context where the scientific authorities themselves emphasize that the Omicron variant remains lethal: the Omicron variant is now concerned with most hospital deaths of Covid-19.
And as if that wasn’t too much contempt, he defended what he said “ a way to congratulate all the teachers and education staff in the country who are more respectful of barrier actions, who are more vaccinated. This is the hallmark of a very responsible profession “.
Blanquer thus pursues the government’s strategy of individual responsibility, hiding the current choice to “let the virus circulate”, with the aim of achieving some form of collective resistance, all so as not to affect the economy, nor invest a cent to limit the spread of the epidemic. If teachers and students are polluted, it’s not because they don’t respect barrier actions, but because of a destructive protocol and a huge lack of means to keep schools open in good condition. The number of infected and ill teachers and students is negative and directly disrupts the learning conditions of students, who find themselves without a teacher (Blanquer’s approach to substitution a failure) and who were forced to miss a week of classes due to clashes.
Managing between scandals and fiascos
Former darling of macronie, Jean-Michel Blanquer thus continues the company recomposition of his image, after the days of crisis opened during the big strike on January 13, followed by Mediapart revelations around the “Ibiza protocol” . Two moments that caused instability in Blanquer’s ministry, and that led to many major media outlets being interested-in the end-of Blanquer’s lies. The program Désintox, in Arte, thus focuses on the “bad accounts” of Jean-Michel Blanquer (who announced on January 11 50,000 Covid cases in schools… against 400,000 in fact), while the newspaper that Le Monde focuses on “two -year estimated declarations”. That’s the least the staff, who have been criticizing Blanquer’s lies for months – have to say – see #Blanquerment.
Education workers demonstrated on a historic day on Jan. 13, not only against the Blanquer protocol but against all the Macron government’s contempt for workers in this time of health crisis, deepening the severe crisis that experienced in public services for many years. In the face of contempt for the ruling class and the intensity of the latest mobilizations, we must immediately demand large-scale hiring, the recruitment of the status quo of all dangerous education workers as well as an increase in the wages of the workers. , whose index point has been frozen for more than 10 years. We must not allow Blanquer or Macron to let us forget the responsibility their government has placed on us in managing the health crisis, which is why they have deliberately chosen to sacrifice us, once again, for the sake of profit.