French students maintain protests despite government concessions

Ofrench students announced today that they will keep the protests initiated three weeks ago against the Government, despite some compromises from Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, after a meeting with the group, which considered them insufficient.

After several meetings and the launch of a consultation platform aimed at secondary school students, whose mobilizations served as a fuse for a protest movement that spread to other sectors, the government announced a series of measures.

These include the reform of the university access system, the allocation of EUR 1 billion for the improvement of university facilities and another EUR 4 billion in the form of credits for schools and secondary schools.

“It’s a step, but clearly insufficient. We need to go further,” said Louis Letoubon, spokesperson for the Les Lycéens association.

Letoubon and his colleagues have called for adherence to the demonstrations scheduled for next Saturday, the continuation of school blockades from next Monday, when school holidays are over, and participation in the general strike scheduled for November 5.

Becoming one of the best known faces of the student protest, Letoubon stated that “the government is afraid and has shown to be disoriented”, thus defending the maintenance of pressure “to get as much as possible”.

The government's proposal, detailed by the Minister for Education, Edouard Geffray, includes a partial reform of the university access system, a model that secondary school students require is completely repealed.

The government proposes a parliamentary debate on the system for this Wednesday, aware that the fate of the measure will depend on the executive emerging from the presidential elections scheduled for April and May next year.

Students consider that this may be a way forward, aware that the parties best positioned in the polls, the French far-right leader, Marine Le Pen, of the National Rassemblement (RN or National Regrouping) and the leader of the La France Insumise party (LFI, France Unsubmissive), Jean-Luc Mélenchon (extreme-left), defend the repeal of the current system.

They argue that the system is incomprehensible and transparent, as well as creating an elite and not promoting the social rise of pupils from less-favoured areas.

As for the financial resources allocated to the renovation of buildings, students consider the amount far below their needs, stressing that much of the country's educational institutions are not prepared for current temperatures, aggravated by climate change.

Geffray also revealed that the number of students per class will be reduced to 28. The measure will enter into force next school year in half of the institutions, particularly those in the most deprived areas, and the following year it will be extended to the rest.

In this sense, he announced that the government has given up eliminating 836 places of teachers, as planned earlier, and that instead it will create 500 new vacancies.

One of the points where the executive's compromises in relation to student claims proved to be more distant was the hiring of university professors.

While the unions claim 250,000 vacancies, the government announced the creation of 15,000, essentially dedicated to professionalizing disciplines.

Another announced measure is the annual adjustment of the budget for scholarships, following inflation.