Question 12938 — secondary education

Summary

Ms. Lisette Pollet draws the attention of the Minister of National Education to the controversy aroused by the content of a life and earth sciences textbook intended for final year students. This manual mentions, among the individual levers to combat climate change, the fact of “having one less child”. This formulation, widely interpreted by parents and teachers as an incentive to reduce birth rates, highlights at issue is respect for the principle of neutrality of the school of the Republic. It is judged by many educational actors as going beyond the scientific field to convey an ideological message. This controversy occurs in a particularly worrying demographic context. In 2025, France recorded around 645,000 births, a historically low level since the Second World War. For the first time since this period, the number of deaths exceeded that of births, leading to a negative natural balance. The fertility rate, now close to 1.5 children per woman, remains well below the generation renewal threshold. This therefore raises major issues for the sustainability of the social model, the pension system and the economic dynamism of France. In this context, the public authorities have recalled the strategic nature of demographic issues for the future of the country. The President of the Republic notably mentioned the need for “demographic rearmament”, while the Government has initiated awareness-raising actions relating to the issues of parenthood and the postponement of the age of the first child. Therefore, the presence, in a school textbook intended for high school students, of a message likely to be interpreted as an invitation to reduce intentionally the number of children may appear to be out of step with these guidelines and likely to confuse the understanding of public action. If the teaching of climate issues falls squarely within the school's missions, it is important that the educational materials fall strictly within the framework of official programs and respect the principle of neutrality of the public education service. Consequently, she wishes know the measures it intends to take to ensure that school textbooks and educational materials fully respect the requirements of neutrality and scientific rigor, prevent any ideological interpretation of the content taught and guarantee that the school contributes to balanced information for students on the country's climatic, demographic and social issues.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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