The new Minister of Education Elisabeth Borne said on Sunday “to fight” to avoid the job cuts that were planned in the 2025 budget before the Barnier government’s censorship.
“This is an issue on which I am currently fighting to effectively make it possible to have teaching positions that meet our needs”underlined the former Prime Minister on BFMTV.
The previous government planned to eliminate 4,000 teaching positions in its 2025 budget, mainly in nursery and elementary schools, sparking strong reactions from teaching unions.
Ms Borne recalled that the budgetary negotiation was “in progress with (his) colleagues, with the Prime Minister” and that she “will also be the subject of discussions with the parliamentary groups” when considering the budget.
Regarding the “need groups” deployed in 6th and 5th grade in mathematics and French, another subject of tension with the unions, the new minister remained cautious by recalling that the system “needs to be assessed”.
“I am not going to give you the results of the evaluations since they are scheduled for the end of March, for a first evaluation, and the end of June. We will obviously take these evaluations into account”she underlined, while an extension of the system, in a different version, was announced for 4th and 3rd grades at the next school year.
Regarding the waltz of ministers on rue de Grenelle, with five tenants in 2024 alone, Elisabeth Borne hoped for greater “stability” over the next few months: “In the field of National Education, we could mention the health sector, obviously, for issues to move forward, stability is needed. »
If she confirmed not to be “specialist” of the world of education, as already highlighted during her transfer of power, she insisted on her “engagement on these subjects”. “I am not Jean-Michel Blanquer, I am not Nicole Belloubet (both former professors and rectors, editor’s note), but obviously I largely understand the challenges of National Education”she argued.