Rabat – France will deploy 3,000 substitute teachers to more than 500 high schools facing severe staffing shortages, Education Minister Edouard Geffray announced Thursday amid renewed student protests across the country.
Geffray said the teachers, who currently have no assignments, would be sent to the affected schools “in the hours and days to come.” He identified 114 high schools as facing “red” conditions and around 400 others as “orange” due to staffing difficulties.
The government will also provide school principals with several hundred thousand additional teaching hours to allow schools to arrange short-term replacements with volunteer teachers, Geffray said.
The minister also pointed to a consultation platform launched Monday that allows high school students to submit their requests and concerns. Their contributions could be used to inform the government’s 2027 budget proposals.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the government would submit amendments to the 2027 draft budget to turn some of the students’ proposals into concrete measures, particularly on teacher replacements.
The announcements came during a new day of high school student mobilization across France. According to the Interior Ministry, 71,500 people demonstrated nationwide on Thursday, including 24,500 in Paris.
Authorities reported 504 arrests during the protests, while 48 police officers and gendarmes were injured.
The Interior Ministry also reported an increase in urban violence on the sidelines of the demonstrations. It said serious incidents had particularly affected teachers and educational institutions.
