The political situation in France

France closes 400 schools as violence escalates during student protests

Around 400 schools are closed on Friday as growing student protests lead to blockades and fires across France. Many schools have switched to remote learning, as the government warns that students and staff are being put at risk.

Students are protesting against overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortages, and poor conditions—including extreme heat in classrooms during this year's heatwaves.

"There are cockroaches and rats everywhere in the school," a student tells Reuters.

Nearly 3,000 teenagers have been arrested while authorities investigate allegations of police violence against students.

Macron accuses the far-left of stoking the protests

French President Emmanuel Macron condemns the escalating violence surrounding student protests against teacher shortages and poor school conditions.

At the same time, he accuses far-left politicians of stoking the protests.

"Political leaders must under no circumstances legitimize violence. They should not whip up fear and drive people to commit the worst acts," Macron says during a state visit to Spain.

The left-wing populist party *La France Insoumise* (LFI) dismisses the accusation as "conspiracy thinking."

The protests have become increasingly violent, involving fires and clashes with the police. Over 200 students and staff members have been injured, and nearly 3,000 students have been arrested, according to Reuters and AFP.

Analysis: A major headache for the French government

The student protests in France are a major headache for the government, write Mariama Darame and Nathalie Segaunes in *Le Monde*.

They quote political science professor Xavier Crettiez, who describes high-school-aged protesters as "the most difficult challenge for a government" due to "elements of idealism, excitability, and peer pressure that are particularly pronounced among young people."

The students' grievances cover a wide range of issues—shortages of resources and teachers, timetables, the cleanliness of school facilities, and the online platform for university applications. However, this disparate ideological basis has not prevented the protests from growing in scale and becoming increasingly violent, the authors note.

France is one of the OECD countries where parental income has the greatest impact on academic performance, writes Erik de la Reguera in *DN*.

"Affluent French families enroll their children in private Catholic schools or prestigious institutions in central Paris, while state schools in impoverished suburbs suffer from a lack of many essentials."

Students with high grades from underperforming schools also face failure in university admissions because universities are permitted to rank high schools. The government has now promised a complete overhaul of the admissions system—but with a budget deficit of five percent of GDP, its room for maneuver is limited, de la Reguera writes.