Toulouse: controversy against a background of secularism around the Jules-Géraud Saliège school group
The Snuipp-FSU castigates the “Christian morality” of the commemorative plaque of the man of the Church Jules-Géraud Saliège whose name baptizes the only public school in Toulouse.
Is there a breach of the principle of secularism? This is the question posed by the Snuipp-FSU 31 teacher union, majority in the first degree, after the inauguration, on September 1, of the new Jules-Géraud Saliège school group, in the Lalande district of Toulouse, in the presence in particular of the Minister of National Education and Youth Pap Ndiaye.
Object of the controversy, the commemorative plaque in memory of the former archbishop of Toulouse, Resistance fighter and recognized Righteous among the nations Mgr Saliège (1870-1956), in the entrance hall of the only Toulouse public school bearing the name of a man of the church.
Some words…
On this commemorative plaque, the text of Mgr Saliège written on August 23, 1942, where he takes a stand against anti-Semitism and asks for the reading in the pulpit, during the service, of this letter which will mark a date in the history of the Resistance. .
At the end of this pastoral letter, a few words that make teachers jump: “Lords, have mercy on us. Notre-Dame, pray for France […] These duties and these rights… they come from God. »
“These words have no place in a school”
For the Snuipp-FSU, there is no doubt that these words have “no place on the walls of a public and secular school”. The union continues: “If it is not a question of calling into question the actions and the commitment of the cardinal known for his positions during the Occupation, nor the interest and the historical scope of his letter which can be studied in class, its place is not in the hall of a public and secular school”.
But the Capitol does not see it from the same angle. “The name of the new Jules-Géraud Saliège school group was voted unanimously by the municipal council on April 1, 2022 without subject of debate. Through this name, we honor a great personality in the history of Toulouse”, explains the deputy mayor of Toulouse in charge of education Marion Lalane de Laubadère.
“The controversy has no place to be”
The elected defends herself: “Ten years after the attacks against children in a Jewish school in Toulouse and in the face of the resurgence of anti-Semitism, looking to our history is more than ever necessary to become aware of the current threats, adds. -she. This is the meaning of the inaugural plaque. The attempt at polemics by certain unions therefore has no place. Neither on the name, nor on the copy of his letter affixed next to his biography”.
The letter affixed to the plaque constituted, it should be remembered, a historical document. But for the Snuipp-FSU 31, “the public school, the place par excellence which allows the transmission of these values, must remain a neutral place”.