PARIS, France, Oct 5, (GM/NET) : Lessons were suspended at hundreds of French high schools on Monday, as part of a wave of student protest over learning conditions that have rocked the European nation.
Students trickled into some schools despite ongoing protests outside their gates, ahead of a day of larger demonstrations expected on Tuesday.
Since late September, pupils have barred the entrances to their schools, complaining of teacher absences, overloaded timetables, dilapidated classrooms and buildings ill-adapted to rising temperatures, among other grievances.
The government has sought to address the grievances, while accusing hard-left activists of having hijacked the protest movement.
Up to 500 out of France’s 3,700 high schools, known as lycees, were expected to be partially or totally closed on Monday, Education Minister Edouard Geffray said late Sunday.
A third of the 468 lycees for teenagers aged 15 to 17 were to be closed in the Paris region, authorities said.
In the capital’s central third district on Monday morning, dozens of teenage students chanted in protest, as cars honked their horns in support while driving past, while others made their way into class.
“No means, no silence,” read one cardboard sign outside the Turgot high school.
“We’re missing our lessons to give you one,” read another.
In the western city of Rennes, more than 20 pupils gathered outside the Montaigne lycee, one clutching a sign that read “Not enough teachers”, but staff allowed other students into their classrooms.
In the northern city of Lille, masked protesters destroyed bus shelters or set fire to dustbins, as police fired teargas towards several hundred demonstrators.
The movement started on September 17 at a high school in the Paris suburb of Creteil, in support of teachers striking over a lack of staff and resources.
It gained momentum and spread across France, at times spiralling into vandalism, including the destruction of bus shelters, the burning of school entrances and clashes between protesters and security forces.
– Thousands arrested –
Since the start of the movement, 24 schools had been “burned or ransacked”, according to the education minister.
More than 5,000 people, 85 percent of them minors, have been arrested.
Protesters have also accused the police of using disproportionate force, and internal investigations have been opened into at least three instances of alleged police brutality.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu set out a timetable on Sunday urging local authorities to prioritise filling gaps left by long-term teacher absences and unfilled posts.
He called a meeting for Tuesday with regional presidents to discuss overhauling the country’s often-dilapidated school buildings.
The government is also hoping to pass through parliament a bill to make those who are responsible for damaging public property pay for repairs themselves, instead of drawing from taxpayer money.
Government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon defended the bill.
“When you have 14-, 15-, 16-year-olds who, at 9 am, are burning bus shelters or — perhaps even more seriously — the high school where they study, that raises the question of parental responsibility,” she told Europe1/Cnews broadcaster.
Lecornu has said the draft law, first presented before the protests, would allow these sums to be “taken from family allowances and housing benefits, while ensuring a minimum income is preserved”.
The head of the main CGT labour union, Sophie Binet, slammed what she called a “populist announcement”, which she said would “end up targeting the most vulnerable families”.
