France with 400 to 500 schools totally or partially closed on Monday

Nthe sequence of student protests that took place in the last week, 24 schools were “burned or vandalized”, also advanced Édouard Geffray, in statements to television France 2 and radio France Inter.

“ Between 400 and 500 schools suspended classes” on Friday and, “probably, there will be the same number on Monday, but with a partial and gradual resumption of classes”, said the minister, furthering that 78 employees were injured since the beginning of the protests.

The closures of educational establishments occur when “safety conditions are not met”, either for logistical reasons or because employees “were direct targets”, the minister explained.

“There are activists, particularly from the extreme left, who infiltrated the student movement of secondary education, kidnapped the student movement and have been extremely violent,” Geffray warned, regretting that the 78 employees were deliberately attacked for belonging to the Ministry of Education.

Started on 17 September in the Paris region, the protest movement and student blockade of secondary schools gradually spread throughout the country and gained strength on Thursday in several French cities.

Friday was marked by tensions and more than 1,700 arrests — a total of 5,000 since Monday — with the organizers called for the continuation of the protest, claiming the absence of “concrete measures”.

Secondary school students participating in the protests require more human and financial resources for the national education system, complaining of unfilled teachers' vacancies, degraded school buildings and too demanding hours.

During the protests, the minister announced measures, including a plan to accelerate the replacement of absent teachers, which will be initiated next week by regional heads of Education.

It has also advanced that it will open a period of debate on school hours and that it will immediately start working on the issue of student participation and representation in schools.