French Schools Forced to Hang EU Flag in Every Room Under Macron’s New Law
Macron's under fire after overhaul the education system backfires
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French President Emmanuel Macron's education reform now requires french schools to fly the French and EU flags in every classroom, according to reports.
The rule was voted in favor by MPs as part of Macron's crusade to overhaul the education system.
The news education reforms have already removed homework as a requirement from the curriculum and children will also have to memorize the chorus to La Marseillaise, the country’s national anthem.
Lawmakers are already rewriting some of Frances education laws following Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer’s call to create “écoles de confiance,” or “schools of trust.”
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Conservative MP Eric Ciotti first put forward the amendment, urging France’s tricolour bleu, the ed and white flag to be displayed inside all classrooms alongside the European flag.
Ciott also called for the French national anthem’s famous chorus to be displayed in both “state and private schools.”
According to the initial provision, schools were only required to display the French flag, but the EU one.
But Ciotti welcomed the addition of the European as “an important step forward”.
President Macron’s key campaign pledges were to 'revamp' France’s monolithic education system
“The values and symbols of the French Republic belong to all French people, and these values should be instilled in them from an early age,” Macron said.
Mr. Blanquer, who also agrees with the amendment, said that the new rules would be “very easy” to implement, stating EU flags will be paid for using government funds.
French President Emmanuel Macron has ordered the return of 130 suspected ISIS members back to France following concerns his government may 'lose track of them' once the US troops withdraw from Syria.
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But some leftist MPs say hanging the French flag is a drift towards populism.
MP Michel Larive, the member of the far-left France Unbowed (La France Insoumise) party, insisting that flying French flags was “enough,” and that it was reasonable to “respect the homeland” embracing “nationalism.”
He said: “Schools are not military barracks.”
French Communist Party member Elsa Faucillon accused parliament of blurring the lines between “identity” and “equality,” emphasizing that education reform should focus on the latter issue.
Last year, France banned cellphone use in schools in a bid to combat bullying, violence, and sexualization from pornographic videos.
The new law banned cell phones, smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches from classrooms.
Homework was also scrapped by the education chief, insisting schools should instead run after-hours homework clubs.
“Homework is important,” Mr. Blanquer told the French daily Le Parisien daily.
“We need to do exercises, to learn things off by heart. But at the same time, homework can develop inequalities between families because the conditions are not always the same … it can also poison family life on a Sunday evening.”
