France promises 3,000 extra teachers as school protests continue

The French government has made its first concession to high-school protesters, promising 3,000 extra supply teachers in the coming days. The BBC reports that Education Minister Edouard Geffray made the offer in a television interview on Thursday evening, after another day of protests that were sometimes violent.

According to the BBC, he said new software at the ministry will let it send the extra teachers to around 500 high schools that most need them. He also said more money would be made available through an existing scheme for teachers who work overtime to cover gaps, and that student complaints would be considered in talks on the education part of the 2027 state budget. The BBC says too many lessons are lost in France because absent teachers are not replaced.

The BBC describes Thursday as the fourth action day of a three-week movement, with about 71,000 people on the streets nationwide and 24,000 in Paris. It reports that police used tear gas on groups who attacked them, and that a school in Bordeaux was ransacked. On Friday, about 140 of 3,500 high schools were totally or partially closed, far fewer than on earlier days.

France 24 says student unions promised on Friday to continue the protests after what it called their first win, and that 141 schools were still shut according to the education ministry. It adds that the campaign is increasingly backed by Paris’s elite universities, and that student and teacher unions have called for new nationwide school strikes next Tuesday.

Student leaders gave a guarded response to the offer. The BBC quotes the leader of one moderate union as saying students want to see the promise carried out. Another union leader said protests will continue until there is 10 billion euros on the table. The BBC adds that the offer contains no major new spending, and that the government is wary because France’s debt is being watched closely by financial markets.