Many schools in France are closed on Thursday because teachers are on strike en masse. They are dissatisfied with the government’s corona policy. Unions argue that, among other things, ongoing changes and unworkable protocols have led to a chaotic situation.

 

It is expected that half of the primary schools will be closed, where three-quarters of the teachers may participate in the action. Unions of directors and other staff have also joined the strike, becoming the largest in decades. According to a teachers’ union, there is so much “annoyance, fatigue and anger” that she feels compelled to signal the government.

For example, parents and schools are struggling to implement the new testing policy announced just before the end of the Christmas holidays and it has since been amended twice. Teachers also believe that they cannot teach properly and that both students and teachers are insufficiently protected against the coronavirus.

The number of infections in France has exploded in the past month. On Monday, 10,000 classes were at home, about 2 percent of all classes in primary education. “I know it’s tough, but a strike doesn’t solve problems. You don’t strike against a virus,” education minister Jean-Michel Blanquer told news channel BFM TV.