How Emmanuel Macron makes school his “reserved domain”

Youth goal. On the occasion of the start of the school year, Emmanuel Macron answered Monday, September 4 on YouTube to questions from the popular web videographer Hugo Travers. Depressive disorders, climate emergency, reduction of summer holidays, harassment at school, teacher pact, cost of living, RSA, Restos du cœur… For nearly two hours, the Head of State addressed several supposed subjects concern those under 26, emphasizing those concerning national education.

Asked about the ban on the abaya in schools, a measure presented by the youtuber as a « stigmatisation »the Head of State mentioned the terrorist attacks and the assassination of Samuel Paty to explain the context of the government’s decision. “We also live in our society with a minority, people who, hijacking a religion, come to challenge the Republic and secularism”did he declare. “It sometimes gave the worst. We cannot pretend that the terrorist attack and the assassination of Samuel Paty did not take place in our country”he continued, in reference to the teacher of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine
(Yvelines) killed on October 16, 2020, a few days after showing his students caricatures of Muhammad as part of a course on freedom of expression.

Faced with the incomprehension of his interlocutor, Emmanuel Macron defended himself from drawing a parallel between acts of terrorism and the outfit worn by young Muslim girls. “I’m just telling you that the question of secularism in school is a deep question”he said, emphasizing that he did not want “that young Muslim women feel excluded at school”.

Clothing, harassment, ecology…

On the controversial subject of wearing a school uniform, the Head of State also said he was in favor of « expérimentations » – in line with its Minister of Education, Gabriel Attal – and to a « évaluation »speaking on his side rather for a « tenue unique », “much more acceptable for teenagers”according to him.

In addition to the fight against bullying and the organization of time at school, Emmanuel Macron addressed another subject, this time symbolic in the field of ecology: he said he wanted each sixth-grade student « plante un arbre » this year, for « aider » to achieve the goal of one billion trees planted in ten years.

Emmanuel Macron also mentioned the creation of a single-fare “rail pass” in French regions that would be in favor of it, on the model of the one that has been set up in Germany. But without further details. Across the Rhine, a subscription at 49 euros per month allows unlimited use of public transport, in particular regional trains and buses. At the same time, while the tenant of the Elysée recommended the train rather than the plane for trips of less than two and a half hours, the left and environmentalists denounced the trip the same day of Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and of Gabriel Attal in Ille-et-Vilaine, an hour and a half from Paris, for the start of the school year, aboard a government Falcon…

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