Schools must fly Tricolore

SENATORS have voted to order the French Tricolore to fly above the fronts of all schools and that the motto of the republic “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité” should be on the school entrance.

The move, part of the new education bill, will mean all écoles, collèges and lycées plus private schools under contract will fly the flag.

Education Minister Vincent Peillon said there was no law at present to enforce the flying of the flag and the move would reinforce pupils’ attachment to the values of the republic.

The senators’ amendment also stipulates that each school should have the Declaration of Citizens’ Human Rights of August 26, 1789 clearly on display.

Elsewhere, the education bill also provides for the creation of 60,000 teaching jobs in five years, the re-establishment of teacher training before the 2013 Rentrée, a new priority for getting under-threes into school and a plan for “More teachers than classes”.