France’s Education Minister, Édouard Geffray, announced late on Sunday, 4 October 2026, that between 400 and 500 of the country’s 3,700 high schools would be shut on Monday.
The closures were described as a safety measure ahead of planned larger demonstrations on Tuesday.
In the Paris region, more than a third of the 468 high schools for teenagers aged 15 to 17 were closed.
The protest movement began on 17 September 2026 at a high school in Créteil, a Paris suburb.
Students were demonstrating in support of teachers striking over a lack of staff and resources.
The movement quickly spread across France, with pupils blocking school entrances and complaining of teacher absences, overloaded timetables, and dilapidated classrooms.
They also cited buildings that are ill-adapted to rising temperatures.
Escalation and Violence
What began as a peaceful protest has spiralled into vandalism and clashes with security forces.
Since the movement started, 24 schools have been “burned or ransacked,” according to the education minister. More than 5,000 people, 85 per cent of them minors, have been arrested.
In the northern city of Lille, masked protesters destroyed bus shelters and set fire to dustbins, as police fired tear gas towards several hundred demonstrators.
Seventy-eight education staff members have been injured, a situation the minister described as “unprecedented.”
Government Response
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu set out a timetable on Sunday urging local authorities to prioritise filling gaps left by long-term teacher absences and unfilled posts.
He called a meeting for Tuesday with regional presidents to discuss overhauling the country’s often-dilapidated school buildings.
The government is also hoping to pass a bill through parliament to make those responsible for damaging public property pay for repairs themselves.
Government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon defended the bill, saying it raised the question of parental responsibility.
The draft law would allow repair costs to be “taken from family allowances and housing benefits, while ensuring a minimum income is preserved.“
The truth of the matter is that there is power in numbers and most importantly when the government is fully appealing to the demands of the people. But the vandalism and brut force is what I do not stand by.