GABRIEL ATTAL. The former Minister Delegate in charge of Public Accounts was appointed to National Education on Thursday July 20, 2023. He succeeds Pap Ndiaye. Gabriel Attal has already set “three priorities” to guide his action.
[Updated July 21, 2023 at 9:42 p.m.] As part of the cabinet reshuffle announced by the Élysée on Thursday, July 20, one change is particularly noticeable. Gabriel Attal, until now Minister Delegate in charge of Public Accounts, is entrusted with the prestigious post of Minister of National Education, thus succeeding Pap Ndiaye. This appointment was, however, expected: the media were already announcing the departure of Pap Ndiaye as part of this reshuffle. At only 34 years old, the former spokesman for the executive sees himself propelled to the head of one of the most important ministries of the government. Known for his loyalty to Emmanuel Macron, Gabriel Attal already knows the mysteries of the Hôtel de Rochechouart, having previously held the position of Secretary of State to the Minister of National Education and Youth between 2018 and 2020, under the directed by Jean-Michel Blanquer.
During the handover ceremony at the ministry on Thursday evening, Gabriel Attal expressed his praise for his predecessor, praising his commitment, his rigor, his intelligence and his courage, according to information reported by BFMTV. Aware of the challenges ahead, the new Minister of National Education has accepted this new position with humility, recognizing that there is still much to be done in the sector. He evokes a colossal challenge as well as a difficult mission that awaits him.
National education is an essential pillar of society, training future generations and helping to shape the future of the country. Gabriel Attal will therefore have the heavy responsibility of continuing the efforts undertaken by his predecessors and initiating new reforms to meet the challenges facing the sector. Among the major challenges are the fight against dropping out of school, improving the quality of education, equal opportunities for all students, regardless of their social background, as well as the development of educational tools adapted to the needs of the time, particularly in terms of digital technology.
Gabriel Attal set, during his first speech as Minister of National Education, “three priorities” for the coming months, as indicated by BFMTV. He first said he wanted to “put respect for authority and fundamental knowledge back at the heart of the school”, citing the urban riots that hit the entire country following the death of Nahel. The second objective set by the new Minister of National Education is to “guarantee that each student will have a teacher in front of him every day, because we will have happy teachers at work”. Gabriel Attal is indeed facing a major challenge: the teacher recruitment crisis, which threatens the proper functioning of the school system. To remedy this, his predecessor, Pap Ndiaye, proposed the return of competitions in the first degree, to bac 3 instead of bac 5.
Gabriel Attal finally set as a third objective the need for every child to be “happy” at school, affirming that “the fight against school bullying is an absolute moral requirement”, reports BFMTV. The one who becomes at 34 the youngest Minister of National Education of the Fifth Republic can already be satisfied with the fact that Emmanuel Macron places school at the heart of the subjects on which the executive must make efforts. for the remainder of the five-year term.
Indeed, during a speech at the opening of the Council of Ministers this Friday, before his reshuffled government team, the Head of State set four main axes to structure the policy pursued by the government in the coming months. Among these four axes, Emmanuel Macron mentioned “progress”, calling for making public services “more efficient” and “correcting inequalities”, especially at school. Words reported by Challenges. “From the teacher pact to the reform of the vocational high school, we have laid the groundwork for a profound transformation of our school system”, also welcomed the President of the Republic, indicates Capital. A profound transformation that Gabriel Attal therefore has the difficult task of pursuing.
In addition to this evolution of the school system, Gabriel Attal will also have to face the recurring controversies on secularism at school, like the debate on the wearing of abayas. Another priority for the new minister will be to correct certain effects considered harmful from the Blanquer baccalaureate, which lead to an excessively high absenteeism rate in high schools, especially during the third quarter.
Barely named, Gabriel Attal had to deal with the birth of a controversy related to his schooling. Indeed, the young minister went through private school. However, he defends the idea that his past as a schoolboy in the private sector will not prevent him from accomplishing his task. “Yes, I went to private school, and I do not have to deny or apologize for this choice that my parents made at the time. I do not believe that the fight is to apologize for this choice, “he assured during the transfer of power, reports BFMTV. And to conclude: “The fight is to guarantee that the whole school can provide all parents with the essentials of what they expect for children.”
Aged 34, Gabriel Attal has also had to face criticism of his young age, which has followed him since he took up important positions in government. “Yes, I’m young, but I can remember that you can be 34 and have heavy responsibilities,” he said, recalling that “one in three teachers is under 40” and that these teachers “they have the very heavy responsibility of educating our children”.
Less than two months before the start of the school year, the arrival of Gabriel Attal at the Ministry of National Education has aroused many reactions among the various teachers’ unions. “Gabriel Attal comes at a decisive moment for the future of our school”, first estimated on franceinfo Sophie Vénétitay, general secretary of the Snes-FSU union, before wondering: “Will he accompany the collapse of education or will he have the political weight against Emmanuel Macron to change the course of things?”
“Because he has the president’s ear, he may be able to make him hear that some choices are not the best,” hoped Jérôme Fournier, national secretary of the SE-Unsa union, reports franceinfo. But for Fatna Seghrouchni, federal co-secretary of South Education, this proximity to the head of state means that he “will apply to the letter what Emmanuel Macron asks of him”, indicates the media.
National Education is a ministry that Gabriel Attal already knows, at least in part. Between 2018 and 2020, he was Secretary of State to Jean-Michel Blanquer, he notably had his hand in matters related to youth and the establishment of universal national service (SNU). From now on, it is at the head of the ministry that the rising star of the majority is. And this appointment has a taste of victory, since Gabriel Attal had not hidden his desire to be responsible for this portfolio at the start of Emmanuel Macron’s second term.
Cited several times for various ministries, including that of National Education, in 2022, Gabriel Attal, who at the time was government spokesperson, had finally landed in Bercy alongside Bruno Le Maire, as Minister Delegate in charge of Public Accounts. An appointment that did not concern a full-fledged ministry, as one might expect, but which already sounded like a promotion for the thirties. Gabriel Attal also took advantage of this function to show his qualities as a politician, manager and communicator.
If Gabriel Attal has the gab when it comes to politics, the man is more discreet about his personal life and surprisingly, nothing predestined the young man to embark on political life. Her father, Yves Attal, who died of cancer in 2015, was a lawyer and film producer while her mother, Maire de Couriss, worked in a production company. Born in 1989 in Clamart in the Hauts-de-Seine, Gabriel Attal grew up in Paris with his three sisters. Since then, the Attal family has grown with the adoption of the son of a first cousin who died around 2015, Nikolaï, whose minister confessed to Gala to be very close.
The attraction for Gabriel Attal’s politics was born during the 2002 presidential election, which pitted Jean-Marie Le Pen against Jacques Chirac in the second round. The minister was then only 13 years old, but followed his parents in a demonstration against the National Front. This political sense is felt later in the study choices of Gabriel Attal, today a graduate of the Ecole alsacienne, of Science Po Paris for a master’s degree in public affairs, and a law degree passed at the university. Paris II Pantheon-Assas. It is an end-of-study internship obtained within the National Assembly which will make the junction between the university course and the political career of Gabriel Attal.
It was under the label of the PS that Gabriel Attal took his first steps in politics, in 2006, to support the candidacy of Ségolène Royal in the presidential election of 2007. But the young man was already defending a vision of the left where humanist values ??had to rub shoulders with liberalism. After taking positions and political activism during his studies at Sciences Po Paris, Gabriel Attal made his way to the National Assembly and then to the office of the Minister of Health in 2012 and, until 2017, with Marisol Touraine. He holds the role of political adviser and is often at the origin of official speeches.
The year 2017 was a turning point in the biography of Gabriel Attal, who swapped the PS for LREM and joined Emmanuel Macron’s movement from its inception. He also embarked on the legislative race in the 10th district of Hauts-de-Seine and won. Integrated into the core of the party and noted for his aplomb and his sharp political sense, despite his young age, he was propelled to the role of spokesperson for La République en Marche in 2018 until his entry into government.
Gabriel Attal was appointed Secretary of State to the Minister of National Education at the age of 29, and became the youngest member of the government of the Fifth Republic. A young age which makes him appear in the eyes of some as a “prodigy” or a “star” of politics. Far from making up the numbers, the young man carries important files for the five-year term such as universal national service. His efforts and his performances in the media are appreciated in high places and open his voice to become government spokesperson, i.e. Secretary of State to the Prime Minister, in July 2020, then Minister for Action and Public Accounts for Emmanuel Macron’s second term in May 2022. Gabriel Attal took a new step on July 20, 2023 by being appointed head of the Ministry of National Education.
