REPORTAGE While nearly 5,600 young people drop out of the school system each year in Paris without employment or training, the bet of the School of Ecological Transition is to prepare for jobs that are increasingly essential
Trainers from the Ecological Transition School shaping “seed bombs”. — Aude Lorriaux
- In Paris, in the district of the former La Sorbonne Nouvelle university, in the 5th arrondissement, a School of Ecological Transition has taken its quarters at the start of the school year.
- The goal: to train young dropouts and unemployed or unemployed young people in the professions of ecological transition.
- The trainers seek to “pass on the message of ecology in a fun way” but also offer real job opportunities to young people who are neither employed nor in training.
“Hop, let’s roll.” In the courtyard of the old university from La Sorbonne Nouvelle, at Paris, young and old throw balls in the ground on the embankment. “Bombs “ seeds”, formed from soil, clay and seeds, a technique that evolved from guerrilla gardening in the 1970s to 1970s. New York, explains the trainer, Capucine Du Pouget. Opposite, a few shy teenagers came to attend the course of the Ecological Transition School, established since September in this third place.
The concept of this school whose activity started in 2021 : train young school dropouts and unemployed people in ecological transition professions. With the idea that on one side there is 100,000 young people who drop out each year (5,600 in Paris alone) and on the other side between 500,000 and 1 million jobs that should be created in the field of ecological transition by 2050. “The idea is to hook up young people who feel far from the subject and feel excluded from it to make them actors of this change in society. and allow them to take advantage of the resulting professional opportunities. We go primarily to young people who have integration difficulties and we do not do qualifying training, it’s a remobilization airlock, a springboard”, specifies Marine Weller, coordinator of the Paris branch from this concept born; to Toulouse.
“I was fed up with the system and sitting down”
This Monday, in the classroom, around the balls in the ground, there are young people from 16 to 18 years old. 18 years without employment or qualification supported by the AFPA, a professional training body, under the government plan which makes training between 16 and 18 years old compulsory. “I was in second and it’s either repeat or quit. I was fed up with the system and sitting down. Just taking public transport and moving I like ça”, explains Pierre*.
The School of Ecological Transition, Etre by its acronym, offers practical simulation modules to discover urban agriculture or eco-construction. Visits by professionals are organized and young people are also taken to the meeting of these new professions, in particular for the longer training courses – those of Being go from one day to one day. 3 months max. The beneficiaries come from Local Missions, Dynamic Integration Spaces or the 2nd Chance School.
This is where the seed bombs grow. seeds have been launched. – Aude Lorriaux
“It’s a real mission to motivate them”
Capucine Du Pouget”s leitmotif: “Passing on the message of ecology but in a playful way.” As with this throwing of bombs at seeds. Despite enthusiasm and energy of the trainer, many of these young people do not seem at all receptive. “Ecology doesn’t speak to me. It’s not something I pay attention to, I don’t like. I was bored,” cowardly Anissa*, 17. Despite the climate emergency, and the one billion refugees expected by 2050 according to the UN at cause of environmental disturbances, not to mention the multiplication of famines and wars, all this has little impact on almost all the young people present that day.
“It’s a hell of a job motivating them but it’s not a lost cause, you have to fight! And you have to try to understand them, explains Capucine Du Pouget, who does not lose an ounce of enthusiasm in front of the disinterested and apathetic smirks of her students.” The trainer continues: “We had young people from the judicial protection [young people who were sentenced to stay in a closed educational center; by the court] who came for a week, and I gave them a workshop on creating compost. At first they said to me: “Ah but you want us to make a trash can” but after a week, when they saw all the inhabitants around coming to see me. At the inauguration, they were very proud of the project.”
Bike repairers, landscapers, composters< /h2>
“We plant a seed, we see what ç it gives later…”, completes Marine Weller, who wants to “hang on” these young people with a workshop, and also show them that they can easily get a job in these sectors. Recently, a third of young people in a class trained in solar panels have been trained in solar panels. hired alternating with promise of employment, reports the coordinator. Others will be able to become bicycle repairers, landscape gardeners, master composters, etc.
Or obtain a qualifying training course. Last year, 71% of the 35 young people received in long training returned to qualifying training after one year, almost all of them – at the end of the year. one or two exceptions, reports the manager – in the ecological transition. Maybe that will be the case for Pierre, who knows? In any case, he will leave with a “nice“memory. in the lead, in his words: “I didn’t know about the bombs. seed, I’m glad to find out.”
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