In response to the violence committed in recent days in several schools in Liège, the Minister of Education firmly condemns the acts committed and expresses her support for the educational teams concerned.
Preventing pupils and teachers from entering the classroom, throwing projectiles at police officers, or damaging school equipment and buildings is not an acceptable way of voicing disagreement.
“Everyone obviously has the right to challenge a decision, to protest and to voice their disagreement. But nothing can justify violence. What particularly worries me today is seeing some pupils being used by radical movements and people from outside the schools. Violent methods of action recently seen in France are also being imported into Belgium. Our schools must not become a playground for those who want to stir up tensions”, condemns Minister of Education Valérie Glatigny.
The Minister has asked the mobile teams to support the schools concerned and, if necessary, to accompany the teams on the ground.
“None of our measures reduce support for pupils”
The Minister points out that none of the measures taken by this Government aim to reduce pedagogical support for pupils. Quite the opposite. We have released an additional 25 million euros to support the pupils who need it most and mobilised 1 billion euros for school buildings.
A great deal of misinformation is circulating today about the two additional teaching periods. Claiming that they mean less support for pupils is false. They respond in particular to a very concrete problem in our schools: free periods, those moments when pupils are left without class because no teacher is available. More teaching time also means fewer hours without lessons, and more time devoted to learning.
“Yes, we had to take cost-saving measures. But we also need to explain why. To continue paying teachers, to be able to reinvest in our schools, and not to pass on a debt our children could no longer bear. And despite these constraints, the Wallonia-Brussels Federation devotes a significant share of its resources to education. We are in the top 5 of OECD countries that best fund their education systems”, the Minister recalls.
For the Minister, these resources must now help address an essential challenge: improving learning outcomes. The results of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation in international assessments such as PISA remain worrying and argue for putting learning back at the centre of priorities.
“Putting a lot of money into education is not enough. The results of our education system remain worrying. That is precisely why we must put learning back at the centre. That is what we are doing with the CLE test, personalised support, or raising the pass thresholds. Our responsibility is to give every young person the means to build their future and take over from the older generation. We need teachers, engineers, electricians, IT specialists, mechanics… And we are living through a major technological turning point, with artificial intelligence set to profoundly transform our society and the world of work, along with a significant energy transition. To meet this challenge, we need well-trained young people, capable of understanding these changes and taking their place. And that starts at school. So my message to pupils is simple: go back to class, learn, train yourselves.”
Making your voice heard, yes. Violence, no.
The Minister points out that pupils have their full place in the debate and must be able to make their voices heard. To that end, they have a representative body, the Committee of French-speaking Pupils, which was in fact received at the cabinet this Wednesday, and which is carrying, among other things, the project to create a Pupils' Assembly starting in November.
Making your voice heard, debating, proposing, building: that is what we must encourage. There are spaces to carry pupils' demands: the debate should take place there too, rather than in the streets or through violence.
Rules that must be respected
School rules apply to everyone. When a pupil is absent without justification, that absence may be recorded as unauthorised, with the consequences provided for under school rules.
Beyond the sanction, the priority remains to bring pupils back to class and allow them to continue their schooling.