Paris: Twelve million French children return to school on Thursday, wearing facemask, using cleaners when they arrive and stand to distance themselves with each other at school under strict rules that aim to limit the spread of Covid-19.
President Emmanuel Macron, who visited the school in the southern port city of Marseille, urged pupils to respect the rules, by saying in Twitter videos that the government “did what was needed to make ‘return to school’ as possible”.
But that still means significant changes to people like Matthieu Seguin, Deputy Director of Rodin High School in the center of Paris.
“This is very different from usual,” he said, spelling safety steps which also included air purifiers in classrooms and backup masks for each pupil that forgot them.
With inoculation now available for children from the age of 12 years, and students are encouraged to get their shots, Seguin said the school might be the center of vaccination.
Macron said on Twitter that three out of five teenagers had received a shot, and Rodin Pupil Louise was 11 years old, who claimed to be a little nervous for his first day at a big school said he couldn’t wait to get his property too.
“I really want to be vaccinated,” he said.
For others, the focus is different: “I am really happy because I will find high school and return with my friends,” Eli was 11 years old.
At Marseille, Macron chatted with children in class, with one reported asking him whether nasal wiped for Covid-19 going far to the brain, and others produce.
France, where the Daily Covid-19 transmission rate has slowed, is struggling against the fourth pandemic, and the government aims to provide a third vaccine shot to around 18 million in early 2022, the Ministry of Health official said on Tuesday.