France Offers €4bn Loan as Student Union Orders Continued School Blockades

France offered a €4bn loan to regional authorities on Monday to repair school buildings, but student union Les Lycéens rejected the government's package of concessions and ordered pupils to continue barricading their schools.

Education Minister Édouard Geffray said the loan would fund repairs for schools he described as not fit for teaching. He announced that class sizes for 15-year-olds in the first year of high school would be capped at 28 students in schools located in the 50% of areas with the lowest incomes, with the cap extending to all high schools next year. Geffray also said more teaching posts would be created and that the French baccalaureate system would be reviewed.

Philippe Baptiste, the higher education minister, said 15,000 additional places would be created in higher education, with a focus on vocational courses. The government said Parcoursup, the university application platform, will be changed in 2027 and replaced by a new system in 2028. Parliament is scheduled to debate the issue on Wednesday.

Pierre Sourzat of Les Lycéens told France Info television that the union remained engaged with the government. “Today we’re at the negotiating table, we’re able to negotiate with the government,” Sourzat said. “We’re in a power struggle and we still need to call for continued mobilisation to meet a maximum of our demands.” Sourzat added: “We want measures, not half measures.”

Louis Letoublon, who attended a meeting with Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu on behalf of Les Lycéens, said the government had been forced to respond to the protests. “We’ve got something: the government is afraid and knows it must do something and listen to us,” Letoublon said. He added: “Not all our demands were met. We’ll go on for as long as it takes.” Baptiste said the government’s door was open for further discussions.

The dispute has run for more than five weeks since blockades began in September, driven by demands to end teacher shortages and repair facilities with collapsing ceilings, mould and broken windows. Hundreds of children have been arrested and held in police custody, and several have been maimed or seriously injured, allegedly by police explosive weapons. France saw its worst day of violence in years on October 17, involving looting, fires and vandalism of state buildings; curfews and protest bans were subsequently put in place in certain cities.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said ultra-right groups had arrived in organised formations at protests in cities such as Nice and Montpellier over the weekend to target demonstrators, with 11 suspects set to face charges. Speaking in Marseille on Monday, Emmanuel Macron said nationwide street protests were likely to continue and that the next day of demonstrations on October 31 would also be a day of risk. Macron, who steps down next spring, is serving as president six months before the election, with far-right leader Marine Le Pen leading the polls.

Macron told police officers: “We will continue to hold the line. If we all do our jobs well, this movement will subside, because we will address legitimate expectations, and because order will be maintained. But nothing is a foregone conclusion.” Authorities have admitted to security and intelligence failures that preceded the clashes on October 17.