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SCHOOLS

Teachers’ strikes and protests planned across France on Tuesday

In protest against plans to 'stream' pupils into groups based on academic level, unions have called on French teachers to walk out and demonstrate again on Tuesday.

Published: 2 April 2024 10:47 CEST
Teachers' strikes and protests planned across France on Tuesday
Demonstrators shout slogans and carry placards during a march led by the Seine-Saint-Denis (93) departmental inter-union to denounce the government's current education policy and demand further funds for public schools, in Paris on March 7, 2024. (Photo by Guillaume BAPTISTE / AFP)

Teachers in France are taking to the streets again, with another day of strikes and protests planned for Tuesday in protest against ‘streaming‘ in lower-secondary school (collège).

Unions have called for teaching staff to “amplify the mobilisation”, with over 80 demonstrations planned across the country on Tuesday, less than two weeks after the last large-scale mobilisation on March 19th.

Unions representing teachers are calling for the government to abandon its plans for a ‘choc des savoirs’ (knowledge shock), which will involve separating pupils in collège based on their level in maths and French.

They say that the government has passed decrees that are “unacceptable and irresponsible and (…) in defiance of the general opinion from members of the profession”. Unions are also calling for an increase in salaries and more resources for state schools.

READ MORE: Why ‘streaming’ in French schools is causing controversy (and strikes)

What’s the ‘streaming’ plan?

The proposal to stream students into groups based on their ‘needs’: one group that is ‘at ease’ with the subject, one average group, and one group that needs extra attention.

It will begin with the lower two classes, 6ème and 5ème (ages 11 and 12) in autumn 2024, and by 2025 be expanded to the older two grades, 4ème and 3ème, according to a decree published in France’s Journal Officiel on March 17th.

Ongoing protests in the education sector

Parents and parent associations have also got involved in the demonstrations, as part of ‘opérations collèges morts’, or ‘dead school operations’. These have involved keeping collège-aged pupils home from school.

Dozens of lower-secondary schools across the country have participated in the past few weeks, with at least  25 Paris-based collèges joining in, after an appeal from the Federation of Parents’ Councils (FCPE), French daily Le Parisien estimated.

On top of that, parents in the Seine-Saint-Denis district protested en masse on Saturday, calling for a €158 million ’emergency plan’ for schools in the area.

Parents and unions would like to see at least 5,000 teaching posts created in the département, as well as renovations of dilapidated school buildings. 

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PROTESTS

IN PICTURES: Thousands march for wages and peace in France

Thousands of people took to the streets to demonstrate in France on May 1st, with unions calling for wages, peace in Gaza and a "more protective" Europe.

Published: 1 May 2024 17:30 CEST
IN PICTURES: Thousands march for wages and peace in France

From Marseille to Lyon, Rennes and Toulouse, processions of people bearing Palestinian flags as well as those of the unions reflected these multiple slogans.

“I am here for the workers, it is important to rally for our rights, but also to denounce the terrible situation in Gaza and Palestine. This must stop,” said Louise, 27, in Paris.

In the run-up to the European elections on June 9, several political leaders were involved, such as Fabien Roussel (PCF) in Lille and Manon Aubry (LFI) in Lyon.

In Saint-Etienne, the head of the Socalists’ list Raphaël Glucksmann was prevented from joining the procession after paint was thrown and a few dozen activists hurled insults.

French workers’ unions’ leaders march behind a banner during Labour Day protests in Paris on May 1, 2024. (Photo by ALAIN JOCARD / AFP)

Marseille was one of the first processions to take place with between 3,000 (according to police estimates), and 8,000 (according to CGT union estimates) people taking part, marching behind a banner that read “Mobilised for peace and social progress”.

In Rennes, the demonstration attracted 1,400 demonstrators, according to the prefecture, while in Nantes, where there were several thousand people, there were violent incidents and damage to property.

Between 6,500 (police) and 13,000 (CGT) people marched in Lyon, with at least 17 people arrested due to damage and tensions with the police.

Protestors clash with French anti-riot police during a May Day rally in Nantes, western France, on May 1, 2024. (Photo by LOIC VENANCE / AFP)

There were also between 4,000 (unions) and 1,850 (police) protesters in Bordeaux and between 3,000 and 8,000 in Toulouse.

In Lille, the procession brought together between 2,100 (police) and 4,000 people (CGT).

In Paris, the demonstration set off shortly after 2.00pm from Place de la République towards Nation, with the CFDT and Unsa unions marching alongside the CGT, FSU and Solidaires.

‘Very worrying’

In Paris, Sylvie Démange, a 59-year-old librarian, pointed out the “very worrying” social context, citing “the rise of the extreme right”, “wage inequalities” or the vertical attitude of the government.

The CGT, FSU and Solidaires, as well as youth organisations including Unef, Fage and MNL (National High School Movement), had launched a joint appeal in particular “against austerity”, for employment and wages or peace again.

A person holds a heart-shaped pillow reading in French “Macron, I hate you with all my heart” during the May Day protest in Paris on May 1, 2024. (Photo by OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT / AFP)

The CFDT union called for people to “join the processions organised throughout France, to demand a more ambitious and more protective Europe for workers”.

Last year, the eight main French unions (CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC, CFTC, Unsa, Solidaires, FSU) marched together against pension reform.

Nationally, 120,000 to 150,000 demonstrators were expected, according to a note from the French intelligence services seen by AFP.

This is significantly less than last year when protests united nearly 800,000 demonstrators, according to authorities, and 2.3 million, according to the CGT. In 2022, the police counted around 116,000 demonstrators and the CGT 210,000.

People burn Olympic rings made from cardboard during the May Day protest in Paris on May 1, 2024. (Photo by Alain JOCARD / AFP)

According to the CGT, turnout is “a little bit higher than May 1, 2022”, so “societal anger is definitely present”, said Sophie Binet.

In Paris, between 15,000 and 30,000 people were expected by the authorities, including 400 to 800 radical demonstrators.

By 2.40 pm, police had carried out checks on 917 people and arrested 25.

According to police sources, 12,000 police officers and gendarmes were to be mobilised over the course of the day, including 5,000 in Paris.

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