Maisa, a 17-year-old in a poor Paris suburb who aspires to be an English teacher, joined tens of thousands of other students and their supporters this week in protests that spread across France over dilapidated schools, classroom overcrowding and teacher shortages.
asserted
that → aspire → schools
At Lycee Le Corbusier school in Aubervilliers, a suburb north of Paris in the Seine-Saint-Denis department, protesters said schools in poor neighborhoods like theirs faced the worst conditions.
Last year I took the high school French exam without a French teacher, and teachers have a huge impact,“ Maisa said.
asserted
Maisa → say → impact
“These are not conditions to study in.”
asserted
These → study → ?
As protests raged at more than 1,200 French high schools this week, police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets in some cases.
asserted
police → rag → cases
More than 5,000 people were arrested, and some protesters were seriously hurt with eye injuries, broken teeth and blows to the head.
asserted
protesters → arrest → head
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez called it a “climate of unacceptable violence” and called for order.
asserted
Nunez → call → order
Amelia, 15, joined Maisa in the crowd outside the school gates and held a sign reading, “Our address should not decide our future”.
asserted
address → join → future
She said she was demonstrating to demand the same rights as students elsewhere in the country.
asserted
she → say → country
“The education authority is not investing enough in the suburbs.
asserted
authority → invest → suburbs
It’s classist and racist,” she said.
asserted
she → ’ → ?
Ulysse Rabate, a political scientist at Paris 8 University, said the protests show the way that France’s marginalised urban neighbourhoods are increasingly influencing national politics.
“When there is a collapse of the public service, of public education, those who feel it the most, and the most violently, are those at bottom,” he said.
asserted
he → say → bottom
The nationwide demonstrations and blockades, which began last week, have become a political flashpoint at a sensitive moment for the government, which announced a series of deeply unpopular spending cuts in its 2027 budget on Thursday.
asserted
which → begin → Thursday
The education budget is set to increase by a below-inflation 1.7 per cent to 65.53 billion, excluding teacher pensions.
asserted
budget → set → pensions
The education ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
asserted
ministry → respond → comment
Education Minister Edouard Geffray said that education remained a priority and the below-inflation budget increase was due to population decline.
asserted
increase → say → decline
The protests started in the Parisian suburbs, where poverty levels are high, then spread to Paris itself and other French towns, including Marseille, Strasbourg, Tours and Lille.
asserted
levels → start → Marseille
At Lycee Le Corbusier, classes including maths, humanities, English and sport have been cancelled since the start of the academic year due to a teacher shortage, according to Karima Kara Ali, an elected parent representative.
uncertain
classes → include → Ali
In Seine-Saint-Denis, two-thirds of high schools took part in protests on Thursday, the CGT labour union said.
asserted
union → take → Thursday
Youth, teachers and parents in four towns complained of unsanitary school conditions and chronic staff shortages including of nurses and social workers.
asserted
Youth → complain → nurses
Louise Paternoster, a representative for the Seine-Saint-Denis branch of the CGT’s education union, said the area does not get adequate resources for its student population and their educational needs.
asserted
area → say → population
Two-thirds of schools in the department have unfilled teacher positions, according to a union survey.
uncertain
thirds → have → survey
“Our students are losing out on study time.
asserted
students → lose → time
Some schools don’t have drinking water.
asserted
schools → have → water
We are not equal to other departments,” she said, blaming shortages on government cuts of 3,256 teacher positions nationwide in 2026.
asserted
she → say → 2026
In Pantin, a town on the northeastern edge of Paris, teacher Dilan Roche joined her students as they protested outside their school this week to support their demands and protect them from the police.
“What they wrote on banners, we wrote in a letter to the local education authority: overcrowded classes, no nurses, no social workers which is problematic for students with learning difficulties, many living in precarity,” she said.
asserted
she → join → precarity
While France ranks in the middle of OECD countries for spending on education, the average expenditure per secondary school student has remained little changed over the last decade, standing at 11,660 in 2024 and 11,910 in 2010, according to education ministry data.
uncertain
expenditure → rank → data
The last nationwide high school protest movement on this scale demanding more funding came in the 1990s.
asserted
movement → demand → 1990s
That followed the government sharply expanding access to the baccalaurat, the school-leaving exam that typically paves the way to university, without providing schools with sufficient additional resources, said Professor Clemence Cardon-Quint at Paul Valery University, who researches education funding.
asserted
who → follow → funding
The movement won an increase in funding, but spending per student later stagnated despite growing demands on schools.
asserted
spending → win → schools
Cardon-Quint said students and teachers have taken on additional responsibilities over the years, including navigating Parcoursup, the university admissions system introduced in 2018 and criticised by some students and teachers as opaque and discriminatory.
asserted
students → say → students
“In a period of budgetary restraint, it is more difficult to reduce inequalities,” said Cardon-Quint.
asserted
Quint → reduce → inequalities
The Aporia
