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How have students survived the imposed lockdown intended to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic? Some of them have gone back home because of the lack of classes. Others have made the deliberate choice to stay on in order to finish their studies as soon as possible. The rest, most of them international students, had no other choice but staying.
The photographer Jean-François Fort went to see the students in La Rochelle (west of France) and Poitiers (central France) to document their life and working conditions. His photos were taken between March 2020 and March 2021.
👉 The other articles in the series on youth in the Covid-19 era :
- Students and the pandemic: a generation sacrificed?
- Young people and Covid-19: how has the pandemic affected their mental health?
- Students & Covid in Greece: ‘Tell me where all this ends’
- Young people and Covid-19: villains or victims?
- Apprenticeships and Covid-19 in Germany: ‘We were in the eye of the storm’
In La Rochelle, there are about 200 students confined in a CROUS residence (government-subsidised lodging for university students) whereas in Poitiers, several hundreds of students, most of them foreigners, are confined in their rooms in their student residences. The CROUS has set up free open-air concerts that they can watch from their windows. Students have also organised activities to show their solidarity by watching over each other.
Curated by Constance Decorde.
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