first test for the Minister of National Education Pap Ndiaye

“A teacher in front of each class in September”, such was the promise of the Minister of National Education before the summer holidays. But a few days before the start of the school year, 4,000 positions are still to be filled. In Créteil, despite the recruitment of 1,000 contract workers, the situation is tense. Pap Ndiaye goes to the rectorate of Créteil this Tuesday morning. Four months after his appointment, this return to school is his first real test.

Many hot topics

The Minister of National Education has been very cautious since his appointment. Pap Ndiaye will have to assert himself and quickly take strong decisions: shortage of teachers, social mix in establishments or even reform of the vocational high school, there is no shortage of hot topics in this new school year.

Caught between two lines

Last May, this intellectual, a novice in politics, arrived rue de Grenelle, with the double label of anti-Blanquer and man of “left”. He then embodied a promise of rupture, certainly a way for the executive to give pledges to teachers who have often railed over the past five years against Emmanuel Macron’s decisions in education.

Three months later, Pap Ndiaye still appears to be caught in a pincer movement between, on the one hand, the secular universalist line, carried by his predecessor Jean-Michel Blanquer, and the multiculturalist line defended by part of the left and in particular the Nupes.

How can these two opposing visions be reconciled?

For the moment, the Minister of National Education has delivered few elements of answers, opting above all for discretion. Often silent during his travels, he has so far been rather consensual during his rare speeches. Certainly a way to protect yourself.

Because he knows, whatever he does, he risks being criticized. Accused of doing too much or not enough. However, in politics and in such an exposed position, the method of blowing hot and cold can only last for a while.