Let’s save the Léon Mignon school of armory in Liège !
The Minister of Education of the French-Speaking Community of Belgium (under the Wallonia-Brussels Federation), Valérie Glatigny, has had a decree adopted reforming vocational and technical schools in Wallonia (and Brussels).
These new rules will lead to the short-term closure of the Léon Mignon Gunsmithing School (founded by the City of Liège in 1897) if nothing is changed, as its specific characteristics have not been taken into account. The Gunsmithing School, a true global heritage site for gunsmithing in terms of know-how transmission, is nevertheless experiencing great success in terms of enrollment and an excellent employment rate of 97% after the program: it trains qualified gunsmith artisans that the whole world, both in Belgium and abroad, eagerly seeks. The abolition and re-direction of 7th-year students towards adult education, as recommended by the minister for this type of institution, is not feasible: the school is unique in this field in Belgium, there is no other one, and none for adults !
Furthermore, the impossibility of enrolling foreign students from now on will literally undermine the school's enrollment (whose external attractiveness is also vital for the other sections of the school) and consequently, will drastically reduce the number of teaching hours and the number of teachers, leading to an irreparable loss of quality and, according to duly quantified projections, a short-term disappearance.
We request that the decree be suspended to allow for a real analysis of the specific characteristics of the Gunsmithing School and that these can be taken into account in a new, better-adapted decree. The City of Liège, the organizing authority of the school, which has been scarcely present in this matter, should also be made aware.
The City of Liège, the school’s organizing power, which is hardly present in this file, should also be made aware.
You want to save this heritage and this know-how of secular excellence?
