| State inflicts further budgetary cuts on non formal education for adults | | Print | |
| Renée David Aeschlimann | 23.11.2008 | National Affairs - News items [en] [fr] | ||||
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Since the conservative right has been in power in France, non formal education (1) has lost some important institutional and financial support which it has traditionally always received. This process has just been accelerated with further, devastating cuts currently being discussed in parliament as part of the new financial bill. Certainly bad news, especially in view of the veritable educational and social crisis emerging on the horizon.
At the working group meeting of the ARF (Association of French Regions) and the CPCA (Standing Conference for Associative Coordination) on 18th November, Jacques Auxiette, president of the ARF education commission and of the Loire regional council, spoke of being outraged “by the government’s treatment of the educational associations which are there to complement public education.” Indeed, these associations received a letter from Xavier Darcos, minister for national education (UMP party – conservative right) on 6th October 2008 informing them of a retroactive suppression of 25% of the agreed actions with the state by the end of 2008, the plain and simple nonrenewal of the convention as of 2009 and the reintegration into the classroom of the teachers put at their disposal. The Association of French Regions, (22 of the 23 regions being presided over by socialist elected representatives), has examined this simple letter although it has not previously been consulted in such matters, while the President of the Republic declared last summer to the Ligue de l’Enseignement (Teaching League): “France needs non formal education for adults and we will support it wholeheartedly because the work that you do is remarkable and it requires the means to keep it up.” The Regions put pressure on non formal education associations in many subject areas: professional and continued education for the employed, support for associations in the French territories, developing cultural and sporting activities for the citizens, and so on. The Association of French Regions is worried: “There is a long list of activities aimed at developing the regions, in which non formal education associations are involved – if they disappeared it would be a catastrophe. There is definitely an element of individual emancipation and national social cohesion which is threatened here, but also an element of educational planning for the territories.” The association’s education commission president has called for the President of the Republic “to go back on these decisions at a time when it is more important than ever not to neglect the educational, cultural and social fields.” (1)Associative non formal education, born after 1945, applies to adults as well as children. |
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