The rector of the Academy of Paris Christophe Kerrero faces a major challenge before Emmanuel Macron at the Sorbonne University in Paris on August 25, 2022, during the back-to-school meeting of the rectors. Mohammed Badra / AFP
The Minister of Education, Amélie Oudéa-Castera, already weakened by a succession of controversies since taking office on Rue de Grenelle on January 11, suffered a new setback. The rector of Paris, Christophe Kerrero, who has been in office since July 2020, announced his resignation on Friday, February 2 in a letter to the academy staff.
This is a rare and dramatic decision for one of the highest-ranking officials in the national education system, given the tensions between the Academy of Paris and its supervising ministry. It’s also a political symbol, as the defense of public education is at the heart of current debates.
The rector had warned in the fall of 2023 about the closure of four preparatory classes and the opening of three others for the 2024 school year, but a moratorium on these closures was announced at the Higher School Council on January 31 by Amélie Oudéa-Castera without Christophe Kerrero being informed. “This was closed and agreed with Matignon. The rector of Paris discovered the minister’s decision through the unions’ social networks,” his team assures.
The announcement of the disappearance of these four preparatory classes on November 13, 2023, had sparked a strong mobilization among Parisian teachers who argued that these classes respected the demand for social diversity advocated by the rector of Paris, a former chief of staff to Jean-Michel Blanquer, Minister of Education from 2017 to 2022. Two demonstrations were held on December 6 and 13, then on January 15.
The disappearance of an economic, commercial, and general class at the Lycée Jacques-Decour, the only hypokhâgne at Lamartine, a khâgne at Chaptal, and a class in the technician’s higher education adaptation program at Pierre-Gilles-de-Gennes, was intended to open other types of classes “with constant resources”. The rector’s ambition was to open two preparatory classes for vocational high school graduates to prepare for engineering school and business school exams. Lycée Henri-IV was to experiment with a brand new preparatory class program for teaching careers.
In a statement released to the press on Friday, Amélie Oudéa-Castera’s team stated that “the minister takes note of his decision and thanks Christophe Kerrero for his recognized action and commitment to national education,” adding that “this is a moratorium on closures to allow time for analysis. This will not impact the implementation of the plan, which will be well-funded.”
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