{"id":29978,"date":"2026-10-02T08:30:53","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T04:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mediaforedu.am\/?p=29978"},"modified":"2026-10-01T22:48:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T18:48:49","slug":"student-protests-intensify-across-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mediaforedu.am\/en\/student-protests-intensify-across-france\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Protests Intensify Across France"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Student<\/div><\/div>

Photo: France-Presse<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

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COMPLAINT<\/span><\/a><\/div>
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Student Protests Continue to Disrupt More Than 200 High Schools in France, Violence Reported at Around 50.<\/p>\n

Student protests that began in late September 2026 continued on October 1. According to officials in the \u00cele-de-France region, since the start of the protest movement, the entrances and checkpoints of around 30 schools have been completely or partially damaged. Authorities estimate the cost of the damage to schools at more than \u20ac1 million. Le Monde reports.<\/p>\n

The protests began on September 21 across the suburbs of Paris. Student organisations are demanding more human and financial resources for national education, pointing to teacher shortages, the problem of teachers not being replaced when absent, the condition of school buildings, overloaded timetables and problems related to Parcoursup, the system used to apply to higher education programmes.<\/p>\n

Teacher shortages<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to a survey conducted by the SNES-FSU teachers\u2019 union at the beginning of September, at least one teacher was missing in 53% of public middle and high schools at the start of the school year. The survey covered 1,033 schools.<\/p>\n

According to France\u2019s Ministry of Education, 9.8% of teaching hours in public secondary schools were not provided during the 2024\u20132025 school year. Of these, 7.5% were not delivered because absent teachers were not replaced, while 2.3% were due to schools being completely closed. In high schools, the overall share of teaching hours not provided was 10.4%.<\/p>\n

Overloaded classes<\/strong><\/p>\n

Student organisations are also calling for school workloads to be reviewed. In 2025, an average of 30.2 students were enrolled in each class in France\u2019s general and technological high schools, compared with 27.7 in 2010.
\nAnother reason for the protests is the Parcoursup system, which is required for applications to most higher education programmes.
\nAccording to Le Monde, by the end of the main admissions phase in July 2026, 163,372 applicants \u2014 18% of those registered on the platform \u2014 had not received an offer. Of these, 126,652 were still waiting for an offer.
\nCondition of school buildings<\/strong>
\nStudents are also demanding the renovation of school buildings and improvements to learning conditions. The poor condition of school buildings is one of the main reasons cited for the protest movement.<\/p>\n

Violence<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to French Interior Minister Laurent Nu\u00f1ez, on September 30 the educational process was completely or partially disrupted at 356 high schools across the country, compared with 338 the previous day. On the same day, police arrested 625 people, while 83 police officers and gendarmes were injured.<\/p>\n

According to French Education Minister \u00c9douard Geffray, 119 education-sector employees and students have been injured since the protests began, including 34 education workers. The minister described the figure as unprecedented in France\u2019s education system. Several incidents involving violence and fires were reported in Marseille and Nantes on October 1.<\/p>\n

Petrol<\/strong><\/p>\n

At Victor-Hugo High School in Marseille, petrol was splashed on school staff. Reuters reported that initial accounts said school employees had been doused with petrol, but local authorities later clarified that the petrol splashed onto them while a student was attempting to pour it into a rubbish bin.<\/p>\n

Near Saint-Exup\u00e9ry High School in Marseille, protesters surrounded a fire engine that had arrived to put out a fire. Firefighters were forced to leave the vehicle, which was subsequently set on fire. Reuters reported that fires were also reported at other schools.<\/p>\n

A fire broke out in the entrance hall of Nelson-Mandela High School in Nantes. Le Monde reported that the fire also spread to the front of the school building but was successfully extinguished. No injuries were reported. According to the school\u2019s deputy head, the fire was started deliberately, although its exact cause had not yet been established.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press reported that the Education Ministry had urged schools to hold classes remotely if necessary.<\/p>\n

University students join the protests<\/strong><\/p>\n

University students also joined the protest movement on October 1. According to Le Monde, around 30 university faculties took part in the demonstrations. Students are also demanding greater financial and human resources for education.<\/p>\n

French Prime Minister S\u00e9bastien Lecornu convened an emergency government meeting on October 1 amid the spread of the protest movement and the incidents of violence. The Education Ministry said it planned to meet with representatives of teachers\u2019 unions, parents and students.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Student protests in France, which began in late September with demands for greater financial and human resources for education, continued on October 1 with further demonstrations and incidents of violence. Protesters are raising concerns about teacher shortages, the failure to replace absent teachers, the condition of school buildings, overloaded classes and problems with the higher education admissions system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29979,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[230,483,221],"tags":[511],"class_list":["post-29978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education-in-the-world-en","category-international-news-en","category-news-en","tag-511"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaforedu.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaforedu.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaforedu.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaforedu.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaforedu.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29978"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mediaforedu.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29982,"href":"https:\/\/mediaforedu.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29978\/revisions\/29982"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaforedu.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaforedu.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaforedu.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaforedu.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}