Massive protests by high school students are continuing in France. They began back in September and have spread to many cities across the country. On Monday, classes will be suspended at between 400 and 500 schools, while on Tuesday students and education unions are preparing a new nationwide action, Le Monde reports, writes UNN.
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Minister of National Education Édouard Geffray said that approximately the same number of institutions had also not been operating on Friday. According to him, schools are being closed where it is impossible to guarantee safety, logistical problems have arisen, or staff have become direct targets of attacks.
The most difficult situation is expected in the Île-de-France region, where more than 160 schools will not operate on Monday—more than a third of the region's total.
The protests will continue
The movement began on September 17 in Île-de-France and later spread to other cities across the country. Students are demanding increased education funding, the filling of vacant teaching positions, repairs to dilapidated school buildings, changes to excessively packed schedules, and improvements to the university admissions system, Parcoursup.
According to the minister, 78 education-sector employees have been affected since the protests began, while 24 schools have been set on fire or damaged by vandals. In Île-de-France, the damage is already estimated at €7 million.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu instructed authorities to resume classes wherever the security situation permits, and to speed up the replacement of absent teachers and the filling of vacancies.
However, after talks with the government, protesters said they had not received sufficiently concrete solutions. For Tuesday, October 6, student organizations announced the "third act" of the protests, which education unions also plan to join with a strike.