French Students to Resume School Blockades Monday

French students are set to resume school blockades on Monday after rejecting government proposals aimed at addressing their demands over deteriorating learning conditions and inequality.

The head of a student group, Pierre Sourzat, said some high schools would be blockaded when students return from a two-week holiday, adding that the government’s proposed measures did not go far enough.

On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of people, including high school and university students, took to the streets across France for a third consecutive weekend of protests.

Speaking to broadcaster RMC on Sunday, Sourzat, who heads the Lyceens! group, said demonstrations would gather momentum from Tuesday, although some schools would be affected from Monday.

“It will be more significant from Tuesday, but we know that some schools will be blocked as early as tomorrow,” he said.

“We support all our comrades who are blocking their schools from tomorrow,” he added.

France’s protest movement against rising living costs emerged from weeks of demonstrations by high school students protesting deteriorating learning conditions and inequality.

On Monday, the government announced several measures to address the students’ demands, including replacing the university admissions platform and providing loans for school renovations.

However, students maintained that the proposals were inadequate.

On Saturday, Sabrine Kharbach, spokeswoman for the Union Etudiante (Student Union), said blockades of universities and high schools would take place on Tuesday and Thursday.

President Emmanuel Macron had called for classes to resume peacefully, arguing that young people had been heard by the government.

However, Sourzat disagreed, accusing the President of failing to listen to students’ concerns.

“The president hasn’t listened to us,” he said.

“It’s smoke and mirrors. There’s a bit of polish on the surface, but once you scratch beneath it, there’s nothing there,” Sourzat added.

He also criticised the proposed overhaul of the university admissions platform, which has faced longstanding complaints over its lack of transparency, saying it failed to address the shortage of places in higher education institutions.

Sourzat equally dismissed the government’s plan to reduce class sizes, noting that the measure would apply only to 10th-grade classes.

“We were asking for all year groups,” he said.

The protests come as France’s economy faces mounting pressure, with the eurozone’s second-largest economy on the brink of recession and the government struggling to rein in public debt.

The economic challenges have also limited the government’s ability to meet students’ demands through additional public spending.