Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday the launch of a new plan for 5,000 sports fields in or near schools by the end of 2026 because “we learn better by playing sport”.
This plan follows a first “5,000 plots of land” plan launched in 2021, with already 4,500 pieces of equipment financed according to the Elysée.
“It will be 10,000 at the end of 2026, it is the legacy of the Olympic Games. You are the 2024 generation”, launched the president during a trip to the Daniel-Argote college in Orthez (Pyrénées-Atlantiques)
“All this will give more space to sport at school and outside. We learn better by playing sport at school,” said Mr. Macron, who met the teachers and students in the company of the Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra and former high-level athletes such as handball player Jackson Richardson.
According to the Elysée, it is an investment of 300 million euros over 3 years.
In detail, this represents 1,500 projects in playgrounds, 3,000 light sports equipment and 500 more structuring equipment such as gymnasiums or swimming pools.
A third of this equipment will be positioned in priority districts of city policy.
Furthermore, the president announced the establishment of “physical fitness tests in 6th grade to better assess the evolution of the physical condition of young people”.
“It is the best instrument of prevention in terms of health. One of the scourges is obesity. Which is gaining ground. Sport is fighting against that. And that gives confidence,” he said.
He also promised a gradual increase from 10,000 to 25,000 places in sport studies by 2026. “We are going to prepare the champions of tomorrow,” he said.
The Daniel-Argote establishment was chosen to highlight the measure of two additional hours of sport in college. This program concerned 170 colleges last year, it is deployed in 700 establishments in all departments this fall and is intended to be generalized to all students in 2026.
“This will make it possible to guide the lessons and it is two hours more than we do at the college, with the federations, the clubs, the local communities,” rejoiced the president.
Emmanuel Macron had already attended a pre-school event on Friday in a vocational high school in Vaucluse and now affirms that education is part of the “reserved domain” of the head of state.
“I would like there to be one hour of sport per day in primary schools,” Emmanuel Macron also said on Monday, while Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra noted that 10% to 15% of schools were not still fit into this system of half an hour of sport per day.
