When they return from winter vacation, primary school students will find a slightly lighter health protocol at school. The Ministry of National Education announced this Friday, after a meeting with union representatives, that it will go down to level 2 at the start of the school year. That is to say February 21 for zone B, February 28 for zone A and March 7 for zone C.
Elementary school children and staff will no longer be required to wear masks in the playground. But will, at this stage, still have to keep it in class, the ministry said. It will again be possible to practice physical and sports activities indoors without a mask, but respecting a distance. Contact sports will therefore not be allowed without a mask.
The rules for limiting mixing will also be lightened: instead of being restricted to their single class, students can now be mixed with other children of the same level outside their class, in particular during meal times.
The situation is also changing for the number of tests requested for contact case students. From three currently, it will be reduced to one from February 28. “Students, like staff, will no longer have to carry out only one test (self-test or antigenic test) on D 2 instead of three (D0, D 2 and D 4)”, specifies the ministry.
"This system will allow much more flexibility [...] and will lighten the lives of parents of students and teachers," says Jean-Michel Blanquer. The latter also indicated that, from February 21, the sworn statements that families must submit after the first self-test will end.
“The health situation in the general population and in the school population is in very marked improvement, even better than what we expected, notes Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer. If I look at the figures for January 25, which represent a peak for the school situation, we had 167,000 cases per day. Yesterday (Thursday), we were at 12,500 cases. So it is obviously a clear improvement, which makes it possible to consider the reductions that we have already been talking about for several days ."
In view of a lower epidemic pressure, the relief measures do not only apply to schools, but to the entire population. Olivier Véran, the Minister of Health, also indicated this Friday that the mask will no longer be compulsory in closed places subject to the vaccination pass, except in transport, from February 28.
