Students protest in France, Belgium over dilapidated schools, teacher shortages

MARSEILLE/PARIS: French teenagers blockaded some high schools and marched through cities on Thursday as the government promised to address their grievances about teacher shortages and dilapidated school buildings but gave few specific details.

The protest movement, now into its third week, has exposed deep tensions in France between popular demands for investments in deteriorating public services and a cash-strapped government under pressure from bond markets to reduce its debt and deficit.

High-school teacher Diane Di Sciullo joined students at a large march in Marseille, saying all they were asking for was a decent education in decent conditions. She denounced overcrowding, saying this year she had 37 students in her class.

“At the start of every lesson, I have to ask them to check the neighbouring classrooms for spare chairs and desks so they can actually study,” she said.

Di Sciullo, 28, was carrying a placard that read “I’m a teacher and my students help me catch cockroaches in class.”

Minister promises urgent action

Education ministry figures showed the number of school blockades was gradually decreasing. It said 224 were closed in the morning, down to 157 by lunchtime, meaning that 96% of schools were open.

Scuffles between police and protesters took place at some blockade locations in Paris.

Large crowds demonstrated across the country from Lille in the north to Rennes and Nantes in the west, the capital Paris, and Toulon and Marseille in the south.

Education Minister Edouard Geffray held a meeting with students and teachers at a high school in the eastern city of Reims.

“I am currently implementing an emergency plan to ensure that absent teachers can be replaced on a long-term basis,” he said afterwards, adding that heavy school timetables were also under review.

It is not uncommon for French teenagers to have lessons from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., as well as large amounts of homework.

Hundreds of arrests

Geffray also said he was working on potential improvements to Parcoursup, the national online portal for applying to university, which has been widely criticised as confusing and stressful for applicants.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu pledged late on Wednesday that the government would present “concrete, quick and fully funded responses” to the protests by late October, without offering specifics.

A prominent complaint featured on banners and placards was that the police response to the wave of protests has been too heavy-handed. “Too young to be listened to, old enough to be tear-gassed” was one example.

There have been hundreds of arrests and dozens of injuries since the movement started. On Wednesday, the government suspended the use of stun grenades in the policing of the protests after one teenager’s hand was blown off.

Polarised political response as election looms

Six months out from an election to replace President Emmanuel Macron after the end of his second consecutive term, politicians’ responses to the wave of student protests have been starkly polarised.

Far-right frontrunner Marine Le Pen has highlighted damage to schools caused by a minority of protesters and called for them or their parents to foot repair bills. On Tuesday, she outlined plans to slash public spending should she win.

Her hard-left opponent Jean-Luc Melenchon, who also has a chance of making the runoff, has praised the protesters as “incredible” and denounced police brutality.

According to an Elabe poll for BFM TV, 72 per cent of French people think the students’ demands are legitimate, but 55% of them think the protests should stop.

The government has sought to tread a line between condemning violent incidents in which schools were set ablaze and staff injured, while also expressing sympathy with some of the students’ complaints.

Student protest in Belgium

On Thursday, student protests were also taking place in the Belgian cities of Brussels, Ciney and Liege.

Grievances included rising costs, overcrowded classrooms, limited resources and increased teacher workloads.

In Liege, where police said almost 200 arrests had been made in connection with student protests this month, authorities have imposed a ban on public gatherings of more than three people until October 16.

However, police said a gathering in front of the city’s university had been authorised.