French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian says the country will start a “generalised easing” of its borders from 15th June.
In March, the European Union banned foreign nationals from entering its Schengen area, an open border zone comprising 22 of 27 member states, with exceptions for medical workers and essential travel.
Last week it set out plans for a phased restart of travel, urging member states to reopen internal borders while recommending that external frontiers remain shut until at least the middle of June.
“Concerning the internal borders, we have reciprocity agreements with neighbouring countries and one can imagine that progressively, provided the easing of the lockdown works and the pandemic does not resume, we will be able to reconsider these closure measures,” said France’s foreign minister. “I think that progressively from 15th June, we will be able to start a generalised easing, at least that is what I hope.”
Among its new health and safety measures, the Nice Côte d’Azur airport has deployed UV robots that emit ultraviolet light to eliminate viruses suspended in air or on surfaces.
The government has begun testing people without symptoms as part of efforts to manage Covid-19 in the Principality. If successful, Monaco will have likely achieved the highest testing coverage of all countries in the world.
Residents in Monaco with surnames starting with the letters A and B were invited to the Grimaldi Forum and Espace Léo Ferré to have the voluntary blood tests, which were being taken by both health professionals and members of the Monaco Red Cross.
“Good organisation, mobilisation of the resident population and responsibility of all in the implementation of the social distancing measures defined the first hours of the launch of the of screening campaign in the two centres designed for the occasion,” said the government as it shared pictures of the testing sites on social media. “Our images show a process in a serene and professional atmosphere. A big congratulations to all.”
Monaco aims to eventually test 90,000 residents and employees of the Principality. If a significant number of the population, which sits at just over 38,600, agree to take the voluntary blood test, Monaco will have achieved the most successful Covid-19 testing programme in the world.
Currently, Iceland continues to test far more of its population for coronavirus than any other country, with 167 tests per 1,000 according to figures by Our World Data published on 18th May. Other countries to have a strong testing regime include Estonia (53 per 1,000), Italy (50), Norway (40) and Switzerland (39).
During the peak of the Covid-19 crisis, the CMB set up a campaign to collect donations for the Princess Grace Hospital Centre. Residents and friends of the Principality didn’t disappoint, raising close to half a million euros in the national solidarity drive.
On 10th April, the Compagnie Monégasque de Banque (CMB) established the initiative to collect money for Monaco’s main institution charged with fighting the Covid-19 outbreak, the Princess Grace Hospital Centre (CHPG).
With a personal contribution of €100,000 by the bank, the CMB was able to raise an impressive €470,955 in just over a month.
The donations have enabled the hospital to acquire the necessary biological material to autonomously carry out virological and serological tests, to reinforce medical equipment needed in the care services dedicated to Covid-19, and for the provision of protective equipment for staff and patients.
“I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all those who are on the front line of the fight against Covid-19 and to the generous donors who have made this fundraising campaign a real success,” said Francesco Grosoli, CMB’s CEO. “United, we are stronger together.”
In thanking everyone for their contribution, Benoîte de Sevelinges, Director of the CHPG, revealed that the donations will allow the hospital to anticipate and organise itself for the coming months according to the evolution of the pandemic.
Scientific and technical companies have overtaken financial and insurance activities as the leading employer in Monaco, contributing in excess of €1 billion to GDP last year alone.
According to the latest report by statistics body IMSEE, Scientific and Technical Activities, Administrative and Support Services became the Principality’s largest employer and the second largest sector in terms of turnover in 2019. It was also the leading contributor to the country’s GDP in 2018.
This sector groups together specialised, scientific and technical activities which represent less than a third of the sector’s employees but more than half of the turnover, with activities related to administrative services and business support.
Thanks to a sharp 11.8% rise in the sector, Scientific and Technical Activities, Administrative and Support Services has passed Financial and Insurance Activities as the leading employer in Monaco. The growth in this sector is nearly twice that of global Gross Domestic Product of Monaco at large.
In fact, the GDP contribution for Scientific and Technical Activities, Administrative and Support Services passed €1 billion in 2019. This was seen in a +9.8% rise in remuneration of salaried employees, a gross operating surplus of +12.9%, increase in taxes of +15.8% and +2.1% in subsidies.
At the end of the calendar year 2019, there were 2,274 establishments working in the Scientific and Technical Activities, Administrative and Support Services sector, equalling almost a quarter (22.8%) of the organisations in the Principality. The companies fell under two main legal headings, SARLs and individual enterprises, which made up 70% of the sector.
262 new companies were created in 2019 and 162 were shut, making a positive balance of 100 new operations.
The average time these companies have been operational is 9.4 years, the lowest average of all sectors in Monaco, which sits at 12.8 years on the whole.
Nearly two thirds of those employed in this sector are men, making it more male heavy than the Monaco average. French nationals represent over half the employees, coming in at 56.6%.
The combination of residents and galleries in Monaco continues to remind me that the Principality is an unspoken museum. There are works of art on every corner of every street. I’ll lay money on the fact there’s a Picasso on every street here also.
I’m feeling very insecure about delving into the world at large, while shopping for anything other than necessities feels decadent and a little bit vacuous. But within seconds of speaking to gallerists in Monaco I am reminded that nothing beats an afternoon at the galleries.
So, after many weeks of confinement, here is what I would visit in an afternoon, geographically and by curiosity.
In my mind, I’ve already mapped out my go-see plan. Ordinarily this would start with a pit stop at the Hermitage Hotel to break my cappuccino fast, then, imbibed, I head out through the beautiful revolving doors.
Reality: instead of applying lipstick, I slip on a mask, instead of a cappuccino at the Hermitage and a sharp left after passing through the revolving doors I leg it up the street to Boulevard Des Moulins to get my fix and then return back to Adriano Ribolzi’s gallery.
For decades, this master of understatement has quite unassumingly exhibited the most celebrated and tasteful artists of our time. Picking up the phone this afternoon and chatting to Axelle, who works for Mr Ribolzi, I was informed that presently they have a themed exhibition titled ‘Ex Tempore’ comprising four artists – Fabio Viale, Mario Schifano, Sergio Fermaciello and Pablo Atchugarry, whose works reflect how they perceive time.
I am beyond excited at seeing Schifano’s epic four paintings that measure 260cm x 260 cm and up until now were in a private collection. In the main room there is a cluster of iconic marble and bronze Atchugarry’s, and Axelle tells me that all the works by Fabio Viale are sold. With the uncertainty that Covid-19 brings, the Ribolzi gallery has no set date for upcoming exhibitions; but it is business as usual with masks and hand gel.
There’s no need to hail a taxi for my next stop at the Opera Gallery. I am greeted warmly by Damien Simonelli, the director, and Gilles Dyan, the founder and chairman. Damien Simonelli has a winning André Brasilier behind his desk which magically connects to the large scale 1961 Karel Appel Two Heads and a Flower, the most exciting piece I have seen today. The Opera Gallery will have many more pieces to share and are preparing for their Monaco Masters show which is planned for the beginning of July.
A few metres away, the Yellow Korner Gallery has a photography exhibition titled ‘Paparazzi’ by Bruno Mouron and Pascal Rostain. Mathias Brancati, the gallery manager, tells me that all visitors are now required to wear a mask and no more than three visitors are allowed at a time. The original idea for these photos by the ‘Paparazzi’ photographers, who incidentally have photographed everyone from Jackie Onassis to Orson Welles, found inspiration in a Le Monde article about a university sociology professor who studied the contents of bins in order to understand consumption trends and social behaviour, and subsequently photographed the bin contents of Serge Gainsbourg, Brigitte Bardot, Kate Moss and Madonna, to name a few.
Then it is time to cross the golden square to Kamils Art Gallery at the beginning of Avenue Princesse Grace, where one can see paintings by Eric Massholder and sculptures by Yves Hyat.
And while G&M Design is choosing to remain closed for the time being, you can still peek through the windows to catch a glimpse of the current works by the truly creative Stasha Lewis.
Top photo: Artwork Serge Gainsbourg Paris 1990 at Yellow Korner Gallery
Never before have schools been put to the test as when lockdown was ordered. Educators, students and parents were forced into a new way of teaching and learning. For many, this has been challenging, but the students at the International School of Monaco have thrived.
To understand why, Monaco Life spoke to James Wellings, Head of Secondary School and Deputy Director, and Lindsay Mackenzie-Wright, Assistant Director and Head of Wellbeing. Monaco Life: ISM was quick off the mark when the lockdown was ordered because the school had already been developing digital methods for education. How much of an impact did that have?
James Wellings: For about 12 months prior to the lockdown we had really thought about how online learning should look and how modern tools and technologies support learning. We opted to use Google Suite for Education, which is utilised by thousands of schools across the world, and we have our own digital coach on the staff whose job it is to support and train the teachers in how to use these tools, and to observe students in the classroom and how they were interacting. So, a lot of that work had already been done by the time the crisis started.
When it did hit, we knew we had the provisions to provide a good programme. We rewrote the entire timetable to work better round a home learning environment. We added a video conference element to the lessons for human interaction, and a classroom feature to enable work to go from the student to the teacher, and from the teacher to the student.
Feedback is incredibly important, so we use voice feedback. Students, for example, can highlight a paragraph, press a button, and listen to my feedback on that paragraph. Tools like that have been really powerful and have helped the students to stay engaged.
We also have live feedback so I can watch the students completing their work in real time. As a teacher, I have 15 documents on my screen and I can see, at that moment, who is doing well and who is struggling and needs assistance.
Then we have hybrids, so in some lessons we will be watching what they’re doing electronically, but in other lessons students still want to write things with a pen. Technology is not going to replace everything, but it really adds a new dimension to learning. James Wellings, Head of Secondary School and Deputy Director of ISM. Photo: CARO How do you keep students engaged and motivated?
It is important to mix things up. With regards to developing knowledge, the way we test that and keep them engaged is through quizzes and things like competitive online games – the gamification of knowledge.
When developing understandings and skills, students can still collaborate with each other through sidebar conversations and “chat”. They can organise subjects as though it were on a piece of paper, so if I want them to analyse a certain event and put things in order of significance, they can move it around on the screen and do a voice over at the same time to explain why they are doing it. Keeping kids engaged is all about variety and pace.
We have also tailored the programme to fit the age groups, for example we only rolled out video conferencing for the younger students when we were sure it would work for them, and be safe to do so. For the very youngest children, in Early Years, we have further adapted what works for them. In their case, we have many exciting tools that don’t involve too much screen time. Were you surprised at how well the students have adapted to distance learning?
They have been nothing short of incredible. Our attendance stands at 97%, so the levels of engagement are just amazing. Some have actually made more progress, because they’ve got the time and environment to concentrate, without the distraction of a classroom. There are others who have struggled a little bit of course, but the vast majority of our students have been remarkable and I have been absolutely amazed by it. It has certainly raised questions around education and how we might do things in the future. Photo: CARO So, when things eventually do return to normal, do you see the school incorporating more digital education?
I think we have probably fast forwarded it by about nine to 10 months. For me, as a leader within the school, the challenge is to make sure people don’t leave these new skill sets at the door and fall back into default behaviours within the school. Obviously, this has been a crisis and it has been very challenging on many different levels, but if we are going to find a positive in it, then it might be that it has fast forwarded our ability to use technology to really enhance the education of our students.
What we are now going to see is teachers planning different ways to incorporate technology and to raise levels of engagement and feedback. There is no doubt that digital is the future – something which Monaco places an enormous emphasis on with its Digital Transition programme. Do you feel the students have learnt important lifelong skills which will prepare them for life in the real world?
Yes, because it has created a real-world situation whereas we would otherwise have had to create a fake situation. Privacy and security are obviously major issues. How is the school dealing with that?
Digital citizenship and safety have been a big emphasis for many years now at ISM, because young people see themselves as a different person in the digital world than they do in the real world. We also have a full Personal Social Health Education programme which touches on digital citizenship and safety. We have our digital coach, and we are looking at bringing in a whole new curriculum built on common-sense media which will be credited.
Wellbeing remains at the heart of what we are trying to do at the school. And this is where we move on to you Lindsay as head of wellbeing at ISM. How have you found the students’ wellbeing during this challenging time?
Lindsay Mackenzie-Wright: Wellbeing is such a big part of what we do, and it goes hand in hand with the academic progress that our students make. This has continued with the distance learning programme. Our teachers are checking in on a daily basis, not just from an academic point of view, but on how they are doing. Our high attendance rate is important in the realms of wellbeing because it means we have that daily contact with the students. We have also set up dedicated wellbeing website pages, with everything from articles for parents and activities for students, to physical challenges, kindness challenges, innovation challenges and the like. We even have an online choir, and recently held a virtual sports day which was a huge success. Lindsay Mackenzie-Wright, Assistant Director and Head of Wellbeing at ISM. Photo: EdWrightImages How do you monitor wellbeing from a distance?
We look at how students are interacting through class and their engagement, so if there is a student who is not engaging in class or in particular elements of the distance learning programme, this is usually a flag for us that there is a wellbeing issue. Immediately we call home so we don’t let it cascade, and that communication with student, home and school is key when they are in school but even more key now they are outside of school. I would say we have probably made more daily contact with parents during the distance learning than ever before.
A child might just want to talk after a lesson, and we have very strong student-teacher relationships, which continue to be nurtured and developed through the distance learning programme.
We also look after the wellbeing of our staff, so they have people to talk to if needed.
We put an enormous emphasis on the fact we are a school community and it is not because we went into lockdown that we lost any of that, in fact I think we became stronger as a result. Now the lockdown has been lifted, there are still very few students returning to class. Does this pose a new set of concerns or issues that need to be dealt with?
I think the return rate is so low, at least in part, because of how successful our distance learning programme is.
From the student feedback we can see how well they are embracing it, with the exception of a small few of course. They like it so much that they may want to continue with this way of schooling. Because now the lockdown has lifted, the social aspect is no longer an issue, they can see their friends after school hours. So, the problem is – what is the future? And we don’t have an answer for that just yet. The younger students, however, are longing to get back to their normal routine. What have you learnt most from this experience?
I think we underestimate how resilient young people are and how easily they actually embrace challenge if they have the right support around them. This generation has not been a generation of complainers, they have completely adjusted to a new way of life. In fact, they have embraced it.
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