Oudea and Castera controversy: Emmanuel Macron rejects any “conflict” between private and public schools

Noon whistle and question during Emmanuel Macron’s conference. Amelie Udea-Castera, mired in the first controversies just days after taking office as head of the Ministry of National Education, was back in the news on Tuesday. “The minister made a public statement that was awkward. She apologized for this and did the right thing,” said the President of the Republic. “She raised a real issue,” he nevertheless clarified, confident that “the minister and the teachers will cope with their task.”

On the merits of the matter, the President of the Republic wanted to assure that “there can be no conflict between the two schools.” “We don’t judge people by their individual choices regarding their children’s education,” he added, while it was those private sector choices that brought Amelie Oudea-Casteret’s stormy rise to power. Asked later during the same press conference, he felt the minister had made an “embarrassing public statement.” She apologized for it and did the right thing,” ensuring that she brought up the “real topic” of the unreplaced watch.

Already the Minister of Sports and the Olympic Games, “AOK” inherited the portfolios of national education and youth after the reshuffle. If there were any questions about his ability to carry out these different missions simultaneously, they were quickly brushed aside. Last Friday, the former tennis player had to justify registering her children at the Stanislas school, a private contract institution located in beautiful areas of the capital. To explain her choice, she mentioned “many watches that were not seriously replaced” in public.

Stanislav is the subject of an administrative investigation, the report of which, published on Tuesday by the Mediapart agency, mentions homophobic and anti-abortion comments by some professors. Unions saw Amélie Oudea-Caster’s comments as a provocation before Libération published a testimony from a former Littre school teacher contradicting the minister’s account.

Visit and apology

To calm tensions, the former director general of the French Tennis Federation went on Tuesday to the school where her first child once studied. There she was greeted by boos from people who were “in defense of public schools.” “We had a useful conversation,” said Amelie Udea-Castera at the end of her visit. I was able to respond to his apology for what I owed them for hurting them. I was also able to remember the fact that I regretted mentioning them. »

If she regretted being able to “harm” some teachers and asked that the “chapter of personal attacks” be closed, she was questioned again during the government question session in the National Assembly on Tuesday. “When will you retire?” “, he was told by the rebellious MP Rodrigo Arenas, who announced on Friday that he would contact the rector “to verify the slanderous statements of the Minister of National Education about the Littre school.”