French Government Cuts Budget to Slash 4,000 Teaching Posts; Student and Teacher Protests and School Blockades Spark Fierce Clashes with Police | WPN World People News

Aiming to rein in public debt exceeding 117% of GDP, the French government is pushing forward with budget austerity measures, planning to cut approximately 4,000 primary and secondary teaching posts for the 2026/2027 school year. The move has triggered severe backlash from the education sector and students alike. Since late September, massive strikes and school blockades have erupted across more than 400 high schools nationwide, sparking violent clashes with law enforcement and resulting in over 1,000 arrests within just two days. Protesters, teachers, and students are demanding solutions to long-standing grievances, including overcrowded classrooms, rigid and grueling schedules caused by teacher shortages, and crumbling campus infrastructure. The unrest has escalated into a major political crisis for President Emmanuel Macron's administration.

Although Minister of National Education Édouard Geffray defended the cuts as a reasonable 'soft landing' adjustment in response to falling birth rates, unions such as SNES-FSU and FSU-Snuipp pushed back, pointing out that France's average class size already exceeds the EU average, with some high school classes reaching 32 to 35 students. Unions warned that staff cuts will lead to more classroom closures, exacerbate teacher shortages, and cause severe deficits in special education assistants (AESH) and substitute teachers, severely undermining students' right to education. Furthermore, due to acute staffing shortages and inflexible scheduling, students face numerous unproductive gaps throughout an 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. school day. With classes frequently interrupted, pupils are stranded on campus for up to 10 hours a day under grueling timetables. Compounding the issue, neglected, dilapidated facilities lacking heating and air conditioning force students to endure extreme temperature swings ranging from -5°C to 40°C. Meanwhile, schools in low-income disadvantaged districts suffer from even wider resource disparities, deepening educational inequality.

On September 29, approximately 300,000 civil servants, teachers, and healthcare workers took to the streets in response to union calls, launching a nationwide cross-sector general strike. As protests escalated, students at more than 350 high schools across France barricaded school entrances by piling up and setting fire to trash bins, triggering violent clashes with police. Riot police deployed tear gas, batons, and mounted units to disperse crowds. On September 29 alone, 440 individuals were detained; Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez confirmed that single-day arrests on September 30 surged to 625, the vast majority being underage high school students. The Union Syndicale Lycéenne (USL) strongly condemned the government for deploying anti-crime tactical units (BAC) against 15- to 18-year-old youths, denouncing it as 'systemic repression.'

Facing the escalating unrest, President Macron emphasized: 'High schools exist to share knowledge; they should not be blockaded, nor should trash cans be set on fire.' Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu also condemned the actions as 'utterly irresponsible' violence. Conversely, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the left-wing party La France Insoumise (LFI), openly voiced solidarity with the students, sharply criticizing the government's heavy-handed crackdown and urging local officials and party members to join the resistance—with several local mayors even standing alongside students and singing the national anthem in support. As the government prepares to formally present its new annual budget, this nationwide movement is exerting unprecedented political pressure on the Macron administration.