Youth protests over failing schools grow into a nationwide movement in France
Since mid-September, high school pupils' protests over crumbling buildings and teacher shortages have spread across France. Police conduct, now the subject of 18 investigations, has deepened public anger.
A broad youth movement has been running in France for more than three weeks, and it is regarded as the most significant of its kind in the country in decades. It began on 17 September at the Lycée Saint-Exupéry in Créteil, near Paris, where pupils returning from the summer holidays found they could not continue their studies because of staff absences. The 15- to 18-year-olds blockaded their school. After talks with the education ministry the vacancies were filled, but complaints about crumbling buildings, overcrowded classrooms and long school days struck a chord elsewhere, and the protests spread to hundreds of schools.
A self-organised movement
According to the Guardian's Paris correspondent, the high schoolers are organising without central leadership or even a spokesperson, unlike the 2006 protests, which were run by student unions. Sociologist Fabien Truong praised the protesters' maturity and pointed to solidarity between pupils: teenagers in wealthier areas share videos of rats, gaping ceilings and leaking toilets in poorer schools. Barricades have also gone up at some elite state schools.
What is wrong with the schools
The prime minister has called the pupils' grievances legitimate. Thousands of schools need repairs, classes are larger on average and school days longer than in comparable countries, and roughly 10% of teaching hours each year are lost to teacher absence. Even so, French spending on high schools is 28% above the OECD average. This is explained by the large number of buildings and costlier vocational courses, while teacher shortages are tied to slow pay progression and difficulty recruiting in deprived areas.
The police response
The government initially reacted slowly and then turned to a police crackdown. Eighteen investigations into alleged police brutality are under way, including cases of a 15-year-old who lost his hand after contact with a stun grenade and a 14-year-old whose jaw was reportedly shattered. The interior minister has suspended the use of stun grenades but rejected accusations of brutality. An Elabe poll found 72% of people consider the demands legitimate, while 55% think the protests should end. The movement has also become an issue ahead of next year's presidential election.
