New suburban colleges in Toulouse: “ghetto establishments, it’s over here” announces the department
In Toulouse, the violence endemic to the two former colleges of Mirail – Badiou and Bellefontaine – had become unmanageable. So the politician decided to act. For 4 years, Mirail students entering 6th grade have been educated in 6 colleges in the Toulouse conurbation. They benefited from support measures including dedicated shuttles for daily transport. The ghetto establishments had been gradually emptied.
“The promise was kept: we rebuilt the old Badiou college” launched the president of the Departmental Council, Georges Méric, this Tuesday by inaugurating the Saint-Simon college. Several establishments are opening their doors this year; in Beauzelle, Seysses, Cintegabelle; and especially for Toulouse Saint-Simon and Guilhermy. Regarding the last two “the social mix challenge has been met” underlines the competent department on the construction of colleges. Because Saint-Simon and Guilhermy will welcome students from the Grand Mirail back to school but also young people from more privileged sectors: Cugnaux, Saint-Simon, Tournefeuille. With 600 places each, they open the 6th, 5th and 4th classes on Thursday. The construction of these establishments is part of the investment program led by the Departmental Council to improve learning conditions for 67,600 secondary school students in Haute-Garonne, which amounts to €350 million by 2027.
“All possible bridges on either side of Boulevard Eisenhower”
The first phase “transporting students from ghettoized neighborhoods to privileged establishments for 4 years was a success” car “they had excellent results” says Georges Meric. Second phase: “these two new integrated modern and ecological colleges” with “an adapted school map”. “The objective is to have a social balance” explained Vincent Gibert in charge of colleges at CD 31 “It’s a break with what was done before, it’s a new chance, ghetto colleges are over here”. The department wants to make its project “unique in France” a weapon to end urban segregation, violence in disadvantaged neighborhoods and communitarianism.
Seven favored colleges in Toulouse will continue to welcome a thousand students from the Mirail districts. And proof that the experiment works, Vincent Gibert notes the attractiveness of new establishments “we are seeing a return of private students to public establishments” and “It is good news to see them return to public education, which is the education of all those who live together in this Republic…”
For Benoist Couliou, director of Saint-Simon college, “living together becomes a reality thanks to sectorisation” in “ this college of the Living Arts” who a “At the heart of the establishment project is the desire to build all possible bridges on either side of Boulevard Eisenhower. » All new establishments are designed to meet multiple challenges: they are energy-efficient colleges, on a human scale, laid out in such a way as to promote a serene and peaceful school climate.