ع
Education Minister Edouard Geffray announced the deployment during a Thursday evening interview on TF1, saying the 3,000 supply teachers would start arriving at priority institutions from Friday through the following Tuesday. The minister explained that newly operational software had identified 114 schools in particularly dire straits along with around 400 others requiring urgent attention. Many of the targeted lycées are situated in high-immigration suburbs where teacher shortages have proven most severe, according to government data.
The emergency plan also authorises regional rectors to recruit several hundred extra staff beyond standard allowances while releasing hundreds of thousands of overtime hours for school heads to arrange short-term replacements by volunteer teachers under the existing pacte enseignant scheme. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu stated that the government would propose amendments to the 2027 state budget to reflect certain student demands, notably on substitute staffing, and confirmed no secondary teaching posts would be cut next year. Geffray estimated the immediate measures would cost several tens of millions of euros this year.
Interior Ministry figures place participation in Thursday’s demonstrations at 71,500 people including 24,500 in Paris, with more than 500 arrests recorded that day as part of what unions described as the fourth act in three weeks of action. The ministry added that the cumulative arrest total since the protests began stands at 6,877, of whom 86 percent are under 18. Some protests involved clashes that injured 48 police and gendarmes, the ministry reported.
Student associations held talks with Geffray and Higher Education Minister Philippe Baptiste on Thursday afternoon and have sought a direct meeting with the prime minister. A coordinating committee has called for another nationwide mobilisation on October 13 while blockades resumed Friday at certain higher education sites. The movement has drawn support from both secondary and university students seeking improved conditions.
The unrest has centred on calls for increased investment in education, reduced class sizes and more consistent teaching staff. An OECD report published last month placed the share of unfilled secondary teaching positions in France at 0.4 percent ahead of the 2023-24 school year, one of the lower rates among countries supplying data. Bloomberg reported that anti-riot police have faced off against students at several secondary schools in recent weeks, highlighting the intensity of the confrontations.
Geffray told TF1 that the 3,000 currently unassigned supply teachers would be allocated by academy and even by local catchment area to the establishments facing the most problematic situations. The announcements represent the government’s first concrete concessions after nearly three weeks of demonstrations that have included actions outside schools and larger marches. Further discussions on student grievances are expected in upcoming budget talks.
