French school protests resume on small scale as students return from break

Education ministry says 41 schools blockaded as students return after holiday break.

A 'fund schools, not genocides' placard during a demonstration in Paris against rising living costs and cuts to public services across France [File: Firas Abdullah/ EPA]

High school students in France have resumed protests on a much smaller scale than in previous weeks as pupils returned from their two-week holiday break.

The Ministry of Education said 41 high schools were blockaded on Monday, about one percent of the country’s 3,700, according to the French public broadcaster Franceinfo.

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Students attempted to blockade schools in Paris, Marseille and Rennes, the Reuters news agency reported. Hundreds of schools were blockaded in the weeks before the break.

“In terms of blockades, or attempted blockades, the phenomenon is very marginal. We’re talking about a handful of units, a few individual schools,” Education Minister Edouard Geffray told France Inter radio. He said protests were allowed, but preventing access to schools was illegal.

“The school year is now at risk for several hundred thousand pupils and we can’t allow that,” Geffray said, according to the state public news service Franceinfo.

The protests began in the Paris suburbs in September and spread across France. Last month, the focus of the anger broadened beyond education to the cost of living, drawing in trade unionists and activists. In a test for President Emmanuel Macron’s minority government, some protests turned into violent clashes with police and riots in several cities, with shops looted.

Students are demanding the renovation of ageing schools, more teachers, more university places and an end to a university admissions system they see as socially unfair.

Last week, the government announced a gradual replacement of the Parcoursup admissions platform by 2028, cancelled planned education job cuts, promised 500 additional posts and a cap of 28 pupils per class in the first year of high school, Franceinfo reported. It also pledged 4 billion euros ($4.47bn) to renovate schools and 15,000 new places in higher education.

Student representatives said the offers were not enough and vowed to continue protesting.

“Of course we’re calling for a blockade,” Pierre Sourzat, president of the student organisation Les Lyceens!, said on Sunday, according to France 24.

The Union Syndicale Lyceenne and Student Union have called for further blockades on Tuesday and Thursday, while the UNEF student union said Tuesday should be a “black day” for universities, with blockades across the country.

教育部称，学生假期结束后返校时，有41所学校遭到封锁。

在巴黎举行的一场抗议法国各地生活成本上涨和公共服务削减的示威活动中，有人举着“资助学校，而非种族灭绝”的标语牌。[图片：Firas Abdullah/ EPA]

法国高中生结束了为期两周的假期返校后，重新开始了抗议活动，但规模比前几周小得多。

据法国公共广播公司 Franceinfo 报道，法国教育部称，周一有 41 所高中被封锁，约占全国 3700 所高中的百分之一。

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据路透社报道，巴黎、马赛和雷恩的学生试图封锁学校。在假期前的几周里，数百所学校遭到封锁。

“就封锁或企图封锁学校而言，这种现象非常少见。我们说的只是少数几个单位，几所学校，”教育部长爱德华·热弗雷在接受法国国际广播电台采访时表示。他指出，抗议活动是被允许的，但阻止学生进入学校是违法的。

据法国公共新闻服务机构 Franceinfo 报道，杰弗里表示：“现在数十万学生的学年面临风险，我们不能允许这种情况发生。”

抗议活动于9月在巴黎郊区爆发，随后蔓延至法国各地。上个月，民众的愤怒焦点从教育转向生活成本，工会成员和活动人士也纷纷加入抗议行列。一些抗议活动演变为与警方的暴力冲突，并在多个城市引发骚乱，商店遭到洗劫，这对总统马克龙的少数派政府构成了一次考验。

学生们要求翻新老旧学校，增加教师人数，增加大学学位名额，并结束他们认为不公平的大学招生制度。

据法国新闻电台报道，上周，法国政府宣布将在2028年前逐步替换Parcoursup入学申请平台，取消原定的教育行业裁员计划，承诺新增500个职位，并将高中一年级班级人数上限设定为28人。此外，政府还承诺拨款40亿欧元（约合44.7亿美元）用于学校翻新，并新增1.5万个高等教育名额。

学生代表表示，这些提议远远不够，并誓言继续抗议。

“我们当然会呼吁封锁，”学生组织 Les Lyceens! 的主席皮埃尔·苏尔扎特周日表示，据法国 24 电视台报道。

高中生工会和学生会呼吁在周二和周四进行进一步的封锁，而UNEF学生会则表示，周二应该是大学的“黑色一天”，全国各地都应该举行封锁行动。