Geneva is not very welcoming to cross-border students. Since 2019, for Genevan children living in France, the only way to be educated in the canton is to have a sibling who is already studying there. In principle, one can understand the state’s position. By 2025, primary schools and cycles in the canton should already admit 1,480 students more than the current workforce, according to the DIP. This Wednesday, his boss, Anne Emery-Torracinta, thus requested an extension of 65.5 million for new school pavilions, intended to absorb this influx.
Cross-border commuters schooling their children in Geneva may give the impression of wanting butter and butter’s money. They benefit from easier access to property while enjoying the Geneva education system. However, this way of life also has its difficulties. Children wake up early, very early. They spend a good part of their days on the road and making friends is difficult when you live far from your school. Nor is existence always rosy for their parents, exhausted by these round trips.
“Can we really blame the large families who choose to cross the border?”
For some, it is moreover only a semi-choice. Low-income families struggle to find accommodation in one of the most expensive cantons of the Confederation. According to the Cantonal Statistical Office, a six-room apartment in Geneva costs nearly 2,500 francs per month on average. Can we really blame the large families who choose to cross the border?
The debate on cross-border students will certainly agitate the cantonal elections of 2023. It will be necessary to avoid essentializing a complex question. Swiss cross-border workers are neither a caste of profiteers nor victims of the high cost of living.
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– The cross-border student race