‘No kids left behind’: Macron tries ‘education’ fix

12 held over police killing of youth

MONTEREAU-FAULT-YONNE, France, July 5, (Agencies): In a primary school in a run-down neighbourhood south of Paris, a teacher asks his first-year class how to spell words in a text on dinosaurs.

The enthusiastic six- and seven-year-olds eagerly raise their hands and answer correctly. All 10 are brimming with confidence after a full year with about half as many pupils in their class as in most French primary schools.

“No kid is left behind,” teacher Sebastien Ducoroy said after the lesson at Les Ormeaux School in the town of Montereau-FaultYonne, about 70 km (43 miles) south of the French capital.

The school is one of about 4,000 in deprived areas where the size of classes has been cut under reforms intended by President Emmanuel Macron to reduce inequality in education and prepare students better for the job market.

Education is the latest battleground in a campaign by Macron to remake France from its core, shaking up politics and revitalising the economy to make it more competitive globally.

As in many other reform areas, the centrist president has encountered resistance from unions, protests and ideological divides but is managing to push through changes in education which he believe will help business as well as job seekers.

The reforms range from directives such as making school compulsory from the age of three instead of six and banning mobile phones in class, to encouraging the study of Latin and Greek and foreign languages.

Overhaul

But public attention has focused mainly on the smaller primary school classes, and on plans to overhaul the baccalaureat, the schoolleaving exam introduced by Napoleon in 1808, and introduce an element of selection for universities. More scope to specialise is promised in areas such as computer science and coding, to match the needs of the digital world.

“From kindergarten to university, we’re changing everything,” Macron, 40, said in a television interview in April.

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Twelve people were arrested after a second night of rioting in the western city of Nantes triggered by the deadly shooting of a young man during a stop-and-search operation by police.

The killing of the 22-year-old, identified by local media as Aboubakar F., risks inflaming simmering tensions in deprived urban areas in France where residents frequently complain of police brutality.

Rioters set fire to several dozen cars for a second night running Wednesday and fought pitched battles with the police in the low-income district of Breil where Tuesday’s shooting took place and surrounding neighbourhoods.

Several public buildings, including a police station, were damaged and a dozen shops were torched, despite calls by the victim’s family for calm.