2020/2021 an uncertain school year

In an interview given to Le Parisien, the Minister of Higher Education explained that “we are preparing for several scenarios but with one line: the dates of the new school year will not be shifted.”

Indeed, for the start of the academic year in September, Frédérique Vidal announced that she had asked the institutions to make the distance lectures last to avoid crowded lecture halls. Institutions are preparing for several scenarios.

For the end-of-year exams, most institutions have planned homework, oral presentations via videoconference or online tests. Nothing will be done in person.

For the exams and competitions scheduled for this summer, “face-to-face,” candidates “will have to wear a mask to enter the rooms. Then, the spacing between the tables will allow them to remove it if they wish”.

The minister also mentions that “about 10% of students have lost their jobs” and that: “20% of students are in a precarious situation, and 40% receive state aid” because of the health crisis of Covid-19.

The government had announced an aid of 200 euros that will be paid in June for some 800,000 young people under 25 “precarious or modest,” including some 400,000 students “who have lost their jobs or internships” and “isolated ultramarine students who have not been able to return home.”

Sources :

Le nouvel Obs, Parisien.