Full Breakdown
French School Protests Highlight Decades-Long Infrastructure and Inequality Crisis
By Drooid · · How we work
The Escalating Protests
For weeks, schoolchildren across France have demonstrated for better learning environments. Videos from the Lycée Paul Eluard in Saint-Denis show vermin, burst pipes and leaking roofs; pupils in Pantin report windows that cannot be opened during heatwaves. Demonstrations have spread to dozens of cities, with barricades, clashes with police and injuries reported. The movement, now approaching two weeks, includes high-school students, university attendees and teachers.
Structural Causes of Dilapidated Schools
France spends 6.7 % of its GDP on education, a level that ranks high among OECD nations. Responsibility for school buildings is fragmented: the central government funds teachers and curricula, municipalities manage elementary schools, departments oversee lower secondary “colleges,” and regions maintain upper secondary “lycées.” More than two-thirds of education budgets go to staffing and pensions, leaving limited resources for renovation. Over 80 % of elementary school buildings are older than 50 years, and an estimated 10-20 % of all facilities need serious repair.
Data on School Conditions
- The French Court of Accounts recorded that 9 % of lessons at state colleges were cancelled in the 2023-24 school year.
- A 2024-25 study found only about 12 % of short-notice cancellations were covered by substitute teachers.
- OECD data show lower-secondary teachers in France earn roughly half the salary of their German peers after 15 years.
- Average class size in French language lessons is 29 pupils, compared with 26 across the OECD; in large cities classes of 36 or more are common.
- The education ministry acknowledges that roughly 10 % of teaching hours are not delivered each year.
Government Response
Education Minister Edouard Geffray announced software to flag schools in acute difficulty and the recruitment of more than 3,000 supply teachers on short notice. Since 2017, the government has halved class sizes in socially disadvantaged primary schools and created 16,000 additional teaching posts. The draft 2027 budget proposes an extra €1.2 billion for the Ministry of Education while also outlining plans to cut teaching posts amid falling pupil numbers. The prime minister pledged to address “legitimate” complaints concerning class sizes, long school days, dilapidated facilities and teacher shortages. President Emmanuel Macron’s reform that abolished academic streaming in favor of specialist subject choices has faced criticism for creating timetable complexities and longer school days.
Criticism and Opposition
Teachers’ unions and sociologists argue that segregation by postcode and income deepens educational inequality. The far-left France Unbowed (LFI) party has been accused by the government of exploiting student anger for political gain—a charge the party rejects. Saint-Denis mayor Bally Bagayoko attempted to shield protesting students from riot police, underscoring tension between local officials and national authorities.
Conflicting Reports & Gaps
The education ministry could not confirm the parents’ organisation FCPE’s estimate that students in Seine-Saint-Denis miss 20 % of teaching hours because absent teachers are not replaced, a figure that would amount to nearly a full year of lost schooling over a lifetime. While the ministry reports an average class size of 29, Charbonnier points out that this masks substantial differences between urban and rural schools, suggesting the need for more granular data.
What’s Next
With the French presidential election six months away, the school protests are evolving into a broader political contest. The government has signaled a review of school-day length and continues to seek additional funding for renovation projects, while opposition parties prepare to leverage the unrest in upcoming campaign debates.