By Camilla Torres, Staff Writer
Students in France begin their third week of protests and stop lessons to convey their message to the government.
Students across France have been rioting against the school administration for better conditions on their campuses. More than 560 schools have been shut down, and will remain closed as they brace for more protests.
These protests have begun due to one root cause: underfunded education. As students have testified, these schools receive around 65.53 billion euros, which is a decrease from the past budget. This has created a deficit, where schools cannot afford basic items like chairs for a full classroom. The government has also announced budget cuts for public sector workers, including teachers. The conditions in these schools have been described as terrible, with partially collapsing ceilings, leaks, cockroaches, and unrenovated buildings.
The school buildings have little to no insulation, meaning students have to learn in 95-104 degree conditions during the summer, and as cold as 55 degrees in the winter. As teachers and students have described, these are “impossible conditions to work and learn in.”
In addition, an average school day in France can last from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., making it one of the longest school days in the world. Aspiring teacher Camille, who came out to the protests in Paris, describes how “France has disastrous results (in international rankings), and yet we’re one of the countries with the longest school days. The government refuses to see that it’s about quality, not the number of teaching hours.”
In protest, students have formed blockades outside of the school gates in order to ensure lessons are cancelled. They have barricaded the doors using items such as garbage cans, and have attempted to keep the protests peaceful. However, there are reports of students burning garbage cans and other items in the street as an act of rebellion.
With hundreds of students injured throughout these protests, they have brought into question police brutality and the tactics used against these students, with aggressive pushback specifically against the use of tear gas by riot police.
In one particular case, police severely injured a fourteen year old boy by nearly breaking his jaw and firing a rubber bullet that damaged his eye. The student stated he thought he was going to die during this encounter. In a similar case, a sixteen year old was also shot in the eye with a rubber bullet during the riots. On October 5, a fifteen-year-old boy lost a hand and the lower part of his arm when police fired a dispersal grenade into a crowd of protesters in the town of Lens.
While the riots continue into their third week, the students hope that the government listens to the message they are hoping to convey, and that this movement grows into a massive youth protest. Students hold that their education is a right, not a privilege, and that they deserve to have the best education possible, without having to worry that the conditions they are learning in are dangerous.