High school students in France are continuing protests over the state of school buildings, overcrowded classrooms and a shortage of teachers. The actions have spread to more than 1,200 lycées, and some parents and teachers have joined them.
The movement began in the poorer suburbs of Paris and within a week reached the capital and other cities, including Marseille, Strasbourg, Tours and Lille. Protesters complain of shortages of teachers, nurses and social workers, as well as crumbling infrastructure: some schools have no drinking water, and classes are overcrowded, with 32 to 35 pupils. According to the CGT union, about two-thirds of lycées in the Seine-Saint-Denis department took part in the protests; the union also estimates that teaching posts remain unfilled in two-thirds of schools there.
Students link the situation to underfunding. The draft budget proposes a 1.7% increase in education spending, below inflation. Union representatives speak of 3,256 teaching posts being cut nationwide in 2026. “Our address should not decide our future,” protesters from the suburbs say.
The protests have been accompanied by clashes with police. In several cities, including Pantin, Strasbourg and Marseille, officers used tear gas and rubber bullets. According to Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, cited by Reuters, about 5,000 people have been arrested across the country since Monday, 28 September, most of them teenagers. Among the injured, the agency reports people with eye injuries, broken teeth and blows to the head. School staff have also been hurt: Education Minister Édouard Geffray said 65 education workers were injured, including 40 headteachers. Officers were injured as well; at the peak of the unrest, authorities and media put the number in the hundreds.
On Friday, 2 October, about 400 lycées were closed because of the unrest, roughly one in ten. The education minister urged parents not to let their children join the protests. Teachers’ unions called a strike, and a new nationwide mobilisation is planned for 6 October. The government acknowledges problems in the lycées but condemns the violence and warns that parents of those who damage property may be required to pay for the damage.
