The number of students in the first degree has been down for ten years in the capital but the trend greatly accelerates since the beginning of the sanitary crisis.
Le Monde with AFP
Paris had 6,000 less schoolchildren in primary and kindergarten than 2020 at the beginning of the school year, according to information revealed by FranceInfo , Tuesday, October 12, then confirmed by the capital town hall that evokes the effects of the health crisis related to Covid-19 and teleworking.
If the number of first-degree students in the capital has been downwards over a decade, this decrease of 5% – from 119,000 to 113,000 students – is two to three times higher than those in previous years. The acceleration of this trend was already notable in 2020, after the first confinement, with 3,700 students less.
“We find at the same time the structural phenomenon of a decrease in birth”, conjugated to “the Covid effect and the teleworking effect” which allows the Parisians “to keep their use without being forced to come to work each Morning “, explained to the France-Press Patrick Bloche, Deputy Education of Mayor Anne Hidalgo (Socialist Party).
a limited decline in the XIII e and xvii e arrondissements
The fact that the 5% decline concerns both kindergartens and elementary institutions shows that this exodus affects “many already established families,” says Bloche, on the contrary of a greater decrease in the kindergartens, precursor sign of a decline in births.
More dense and missing green spaces, the IX e and x e borough are the most affected by the acceleration of the phenomenon. On the other hand, those benefiting from recent development projects such as the XIII e and XVII e districts record a limited decline in the workforce, between 2 and 3%.
On about 5,500 classes, 63 were closed and 43 open to the start of the school year, “said Bloche, highlighting the” number of closed classes extremely limited in relation to the downsizing “. The average student per class goes to 21 in kindergarten and elementary, “figures that make dream in other communes,” said the deputy. If two kindergarten closed in the XI e arrondissement, “it was planned for a long time,” still supported the deputy who sets a threshold of four classes to maintain an establishment.