On the fringes of the French President's visit, first lady Brigitte Macron visited a school in Bern on Wednesday. The former teacher impressed both teachers and students.
It was above all the first lady’s approachability that surprised the school’s director, Michel Clémençon, and his team: “Mrs Macron took a dip in the crowd, she took selfies with the students. Her visit was very pleasant,” he told Keystone-SDA after this historic visit for the school.
The idea for the visit came from Muriel Zeender Berset, the wife of Alain Berset who holds the rotating Swiss presidency this year, said the headmaster.
“Brigitte Macron visited three classes at different levels for almost an hour and a half and interacted with the children and young people. She discussed bullying at school and the integration of pupils with “special needs” with the teachers. At the school, pupils with Down’s syndrome are integrated into “normal” classes.
As Wednesday afternoons are normally school-free, the school turned its normal schedule on its head. Some 85% of the school’s 320 pupils were present. Founded in 1944 by private individuals, the school implements the curriculum for the French-speaking part of the canton in accordance with the study plan for French-speaking Switzerland.
Its funding has been questioned in the past, particularly by the city of Bern, much to the displeasure of the French-speaking community. At the end of 2021, the Federal Council confirmed the amount of federal funding.
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