Were French Jewish students discriminated against in Baccalaureate exams?

After French Jewish organizations warned on Thursday that a Jewish private school’s students were suspected of being discriminated against in the Baccalauréat exams, an Education Ministry investigation found no grading bias on Friday, a finding that was rejected by the school’s legal representation.

The École Yabné high school’s attorney, Patrick Klugman, said on Thursday that fifteen Jewish students took the national secondary education oral exam in Paris, scoring nine points lower than the average of the other 123 participants. He argued that the high-ranking school students usually scored a much higher average, so this could not be explained “statistically or pedagogically,” giving “rise to suspicion of discrimination.”

Such irregularities have not occurred in previous tests.

The Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF) and the Union of French Jewish Students (UEJF) called on Education Minister Nicole Belloubet on Wednesday and Monday, respectively, to conduct an investigation, with UEJF warning that it would constitute “a serious case of antisemitism” if “discrimination was proven.”

“Any possible breach of the principle of equality in academic tests and any discrimination of students because of their religious affiliation, if confirmed, would be an extremely serious attack on the values of the Republic,” CRIF said Thursday on social media.

'Nothing to support discrimination'

Belloubet announced on Thursday that she was aware of the complaints and had asked her ministry to launch an investigation.

The results of the investigation were released by Belloubet on Friday, concluding that “there is nothing to support discrimination against students from Yabné High School.”

The investigation found that 34 École Yabné students took an oral test with the same jury. Twenty-seven students scored 10-18 out of 20, and five obtained a perfect mark. The jury was generally more severe, but compared to the other students who took the exam with the same jurists, there was no distortion in relation to the results.

“A school must be a shield against all forms of discrimination,” it was written in the conclusion. “It cannot tolerate it and rejects it with force and resolution. This is also a place where no one can be unjustly accused or suspected.”

Klugman called for a continued in-depth and transparent investigation, as the inquiry was carried out and settled in less than 24 hours of the Inter-Academy Service for Examinations and Competitions (SIEC) being alerted about suspicions on the issue that began to emerge as early as July 3.