School failure, the Afev has made it its mission. During the day for the fight against school failure, created in 2008, the association reflected on this scourge that still affects 8.2% of students.
School Failure in a Few Figures
Each year, 80,000 students leave without a diploma, and 8.6% of students drop out of school. This phenomenon is exacerbated when students are victims of school bullying, which affects 10% of students.
This day was an opportunity for Caroline Hache, a researcher in education and information science at Aix-Marseille University, and François Dubet, a professor of sociology at Bordeaux II and the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, to discuss educational inequalities.
School failure is indeed more prevalent in disadvantaged areas and priority education zones (called REP and REP +). For example, in REP+, 21% of class time is spent managing classroom climate—i.e., 12 minutes per hour of class—compared to only 12% in private schools—7 minutes. Thus, students in priority education start at a disadvantage because their learning time is reduced.
The health crisis was also mentioned. According to the two experts present during this day, it only widened the gaps between students from disadvantaged backgrounds and those from privileged backgrounds. Students without adequate equipment, such as a computer, also faced difficulties studying from home. According to François Dubet, the health crisis “only confirmed what we already knew.”
About Afev
Created thirty years ago, Afev is an association whose volunteers commit to supporting a young person aged 5 to 18 who has difficulties at school for 2 hours a week throughout the year. Afev primarily operates based on a student mentoring system.
Since 1991, more than 200,000 students have gone through this association, and those who speak best about it are those who have experienced it. Abdelhakim Madi, currently on a civic service mission for Afev, first got to know the association because he himself was mentored for four years. An experience without which, he admits, he would not have obtained his baccalaureate.
In 2020, Afev had over 9,400 volunteers in France including 200 in Nice, and this year, 1,500 young people are expected to participate in this initiative in the PACA region. In addition to the help they provide to the young people they support, their commitment is often rewarded in their studies with a 0.25-point average bonus.
Malek, a mentor at Afev for four years, claims that the experience is beneficial both for the mentor and the mentee. She described her commitment as “a very enriching experience, both for me and for the young person.” “We grew together; it was truly a mutual exchange between us,” she continued.
Today, two out of five young people are involved in volunteering and mainly state that they do it because they have the desire to be useful. Finally, the 45% of young people who have never volunteered admit that it is mostly due to a lack of time or a lack of opportunities.
These are figures that should silence the critics regarding today’s youth…
