In secondary school, a return to school under the threat of the bug

“We’ll get there, assured the Minister of Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, guest on Sunday of the “Grand Jury RTL-Le Figaro-LCI”.We are in a final stretch of ten weeks, before the summer. The objective is not to close the school system ”, he hammered, while the elementary students resume their journey to school on April 26, as part of a “Very severe protocol”. From now on, from a first confirmed case of Covid in a class, it will close, “For two weeks, sometimes more, sometimes less”. A measure that will result in “A significant number of closed classes”, considers the Minister, specifying that, as soon as it closes, “Distance education will be initiated”.

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This Monday, middle and high school students begin a week of fully distance learning. What put a strain on the digital systems of schools, which showed their flaws on April 6, when all the students in France had switched to distance school. In this new school year, everyone has in mind the computer bugs that had largely disrupted digital work environments (ENT) – on which teachers interact with their students – as well as the Cned, the operator of National Education, which offers virtual classes and was the subject of cyber attacks on April 6.

Between autonomy and videoconferencing

“It may be loaded. Like a day of going on vacation ”, summarizes Arnaud Albou, boss of Open Digital Education, the digital services publisher who deals with local communities to provide ENTs. The company manages these services for Île-de-France, under the name monlycee.net, but also in other regions, such as New Aquitaine, with lyceeconnecté.fr. Its collaborative work platforms have 3.5 million users, i.e. a 35% market share in secondary education and 65% in primary education. “On April 26, these tools, usually planned as an extension of the school, will replace the school., explains Arnaud Albou. As for April 6, we expect a peak in attendance. ” On that day, the teachers will have prepared the schedule for the week, dividing the work between autonomy and videoconferencing, and will make it known to the students. Influx of connections and incidents to be expected, involving reorganizations. “A bit like people running in all directions. Ideally, the students should know their schedule on April 24 ”, he believes.

We have put everything in place so that, technically and humanly, April 26 goes well. Even though we are not immune from further attacks

Jean-Michel Blanquer

The Minister of Education, for his part, spoke of the work carried out during the two weeks of vacation with the operators to improve the systems, in particular by isolating from the main functions the services which generated the most slowdowns (messaging and videoconferences). At Open Digital Education, we carried out tests on a traffic scenario one and a half times greater than April 6. Anti-cyberattack measures have also been put in place to deal with these robots which simulate millions of connections.

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The Cned has also worked in this direction. Its “waiting room” system for accessing virtual classes (a check on the identity of students) has also become optional. On April 6, many students were stranded there. To date, 3.2 million “My Class at Home” accounts – which provide access to educational resources – have been opened, 2 million more than in March. As for virtual classes, 1.3 million teachers and students used them on April 9. “For a service that works poorly, it works rather well”, believes the director of Cned, Michel Reverchon-Billot. “We have put everything in place so that, technically and humanly, April 26 goes well. Even if we are not immune from further attacks ”, he adds.

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