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France will deploy 3,000 additional substitute teachers to high schools in the coming days, Education Minister Edouard Geffray said, in the government’s first concrete concession after weeks of student protests.
Geffray announced the plan in a television interview on Thursday evening, following another day of demonstrations that were at times violent. According to the BBC, the government says 6,877 people have been arrested since the protests began, 86% of them under 18.
Unions described Thursday’s demonstrations as the fourth major day of action in the three-week movement. About 71,000 people took part nationwide, including 24,000 who gathered at the Bastille in Paris.
Police used tear gas to disperse groups who attacked officers with paving stones and homemade fireworks. In Bordeaux, protesters ransacked a high school, while in Marseille a deputy head was beaten.
On Friday, about 140 of France’s 3,500 high schools were fully or partly closed, a marked drop from previous days. Protest organisers have called for another day of action next Tuesday.
Geffray said new software at the education ministry would allow the 3,000 substitute teachers to be directed to roughly 500 high schools identified as most in need. Many are likely to be in urban suburbs with high levels of immigration, where teacher shortages are particularly acute.
The minister also said additional funding would be available through an existing scheme for teachers willing to work overtime. He pledged that students’ concerns would be considered in discussions on the education section of the 2027 state budget.
The announcement did not include a commitment to major new investment. The government is wary of worsening France’s precarious debt position, which is being closely monitored by international financial markets.
Student leaders responded cautiously. Nathanaël Combary, representing the moderate lycée union Renouveau Lycéen, said students wanted to see the promised resources and more tangible results.
“As long as we do not have €10bn on the table, we will continue our action,” said Sabrine Kharbach of the Union Etudiante, which is close to the radical-left France Insoumise party led by presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
Mélenchon praised Thursday’s protests, writing on “X” that students had “retaken the Bastille”. Laurent Jacobelli, a spokesman for the hard-right National Rally, criticised the government’s concessions, saying they risked legitimising violence.
The unrest comes amid wider tensions in France, including anger over rising fuel prices and distress in the farming sector. A revived “yellow vest” movement has designated Saturday, 17 October, as a day of demonstrations.
The approach of presidential elections in April and May is also contributing to the confrontational mood, with both the hard right and hard left expected to perform strongly. The government hopes that the school half-term break at the end of next week, along with colder and wetter weather, will ease the protests.
