French high school students returning from the autumn break resumed limited protests on Monday, seeking to keep pressure on the government over education funding and learning conditions. The education ministry reported that only about 1% of the country's 3,700 lycées — the high schools serving students aged 15 to 18 — were blockaded, a modest restart after a weekend of large demonstrations.
The renewed action follows a third consecutive Saturday of protests, when hundreds of thousands of people, including many students, took to the streets across France. The movement began in September with student-led demonstrations over inequality and deteriorating conditions in schools, and has since broadened into wider cost-of-living rallies.
Government concessions deemed insufficient
During the holiday, the government announced a package of measures aimed at addressing some of the grievances. These include changes to the university admissions process, plans to hire more teachers, and a cap on class sizes. Yet for many students, these steps do not go far enough.
In Marseille, students stacked rubbish bins in front of a school entrance on Monday morning. Meriem, a 16-year-old protester perched on one of the bins, told AFP: "We've resumed the movement because we were supposedly given answers, but... it's clearly not enough."
Education Minister Édouard Geffray urged students to return to classrooms, warning that prolonged absences could jeopardise their exams. "I have students who are sitting the baccalaureate at the end of the year and several hundred thousand of them haven't attended classes for four or five weeks," he told France Inter radio.
President Emmanuel Macron has called for a calm return to school, arguing that "young people have been heard." But with France — the European Union's second-largest economy — on the brink of recession and under pressure to rein in public debt, the government has limited room to offer additional spending. The country's fiscal constraints were underscored by a recent Fitch downgrade as the 2027 budget takes shape.
The protests come amid broader social unrest across Europe, from youth-led riots in Frankfurt to political clashes in Poland. In France, the movement has drawn attention to the pressures on the education system, with teachers and parents also expressing concerns about resources and working conditions.
While Monday's blockades were limited, organisers have signalled that further actions could follow if the government does not deliver more substantial reforms. The coming weeks will test whether the movement can regain momentum or whether concessions and the approaching exam season will persuade students to return to class.
