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French Education Minister Édouard Geffray announced on Sunday that lessons would be totally or partly suspended in 400 to 500 high schools on Monday because security conditions had not been fulfilled after a wave of protests turned violent. The closures, which authorities described as a precautionary measure, came ahead of further demonstrations called for Tuesday by protest organisers who complained of insufficient government action. Geffray added that 24 schools had been burned or ransacked since the movement began in mid-September, according to multiple reports including from Al Jazeera and The New York Times.
Students have blockaded high schools to protest overcrowded classrooms that can hold up to 40 pupils, frequent teacher absences, long school days stretching from early morning to evening and ageing infrastructure with issues such as leaks and poor sanitation. The unrest originated on September 17 at a school in the Paris suburb of Créteil in support of striking teachers and spread rapidly to cities including Marseille, Lyon, Nantes and Strasbourg. A 17-year-old student named Maisa from a deprived Paris suburb told Reuters, “These are not conditions to study in.”
At least 170 students and 78 education personnel have been injured in the clashes that have involved barricades, fires and confrontations with riot police deploying tear gas and rubber bullets. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez reported that more than 5,000 people, around 85 percent of them minors, were arrested in the period since protests intensified. The Ministry of National Education indicated that roughly 735 of France’s 3,700 high schools faced some form of disruption on Friday.
Geffray attributed part of the escalation to far-left activists who he said had infiltrated and hijacked the student-led movement. “There are activists, particularly from the far-left, who have infiltrated the high school student movement, hijacked it from the students themselves, and engaged in extreme violence,” he stated. “Clearly, this poses a risk to both our staff and our students,” Geffray added, noting that some staff members were deliberately targeted.
The demonstrations have unfolded against a backdrop of constrained education funding, with the budget set to rise by 1.7 percent this year, a figure below the inflation rate. Reuters reporting highlighted planned cuts of 3,256 teaching positions nationwide, which have worsened shortages particularly in lower-income suburbs. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu directed local authorities to prioritise filling vacancies from long-term absences while scheduling talks on school building renovations.
Teachers’ unions have expressed solidarity with the students and called for a strike on Tuesday, amplifying demands for better resources and reforms to address inequalities where social background heavily influences academic success. Government officials have acknowledged some legitimacy in the grievances but condemned associated urban violence and urged parents to prevent children from joining the protests. Organisers plan to maintain pressure until concrete measures emerge from the administration ahead of next year’s presidential election.
