France eases Covid rules for schools

PARIS: France on Monday announced an easing of Covid rules for schools as record-high case numbers shut down thousands of classes and sparked concern among parents and teachers.

Prime Minister Jean Castex told France 2 television that more than 10,000 classes — 2% of the total — had to be cancelled because of coronavirus outbreaks, but that the government would not “shut down the schools or the country”.

France has suffered more than 125,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic, and on Monday recorded 93,896 new coronavirus cases as the highly contagious Omicron variant drives up daily infections to record highs.

Under the first change, from yesterday, parents will no longer be obliged to pick up their child immediately for Covid testing if he or she is a contact case of a virus sufferer.

Home-testing will be deemed sufficient in such cases rather than testing at an officially approved site, with the parents signing a certificate to confirm the result.

The test kits, available from pharmacies, will be free.

France’s biggest primary teachers’ union the SNUipp-FSU, which denounced the “indescribable mess” in the school system and “a strong feeling of abandonment and anger among the staff”, has called for a national strike tomorrow.

Most of the country’s other teaching unions have signed up to the proposal.

SNUipp-FSU secretary-general Guislaine David was unimpressed by Mr Castex’s announcement.

“It displays total contempt for the teachers who are on the ground. This will not at all reduce the number of contaminations at school,” she said. “On the contrary, it will multiply them tenfold, because a certificate on the honour of the parents is now sufficient.”

More than 100,000 people across France protested on Saturday over what they say are government plans to further restrict the rights of the unvaccinated.