France to fight student unrest by dispatching thousands of teachers

France’s government has pledged to dispatch thousands of additional teachers to understaffed schools throughout the country in an effort to rein in student protests that have led to clashes with riot police.

Newly deployed software “helped identify schools facing situations I would call highly problematic,” Education Minister Edouard Geffray said in a TF1 television interview Thursday, unveiling details of an “emergency plan” to address student grievances. “Starting tomorrow, we will be deploying teachers to these schools.”

Some 3,000 substitute teachers that currently have no students “because the past assignment processes were inefficient” will be dispatched to classrooms “in the coming hours, in the coming days,” Geffray said. The minister will also allow recruitment of “a few hundred more teachers than normally permitted,” he said. The measures will cost “several tens of millions of euros” between now and year-end, Geffray said.

French students prolonged their protests on Thursday after Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said his policy response would only come at the end of October.

The government counted more some 71,500 demonstrators nationwide, including some 24,500 in Paris, according to the Interior Ministry. While that’s well below the numbers on Tuesday, urban riots are on the rise with several “grave incidents” reported in cities such as Poitiers, Toulouse and Saint-Etienne, leading to more than 500 detentions, according to the ministry.

Students protest in Place de la Bastille in central Paris on Thursday. | BLOOMBERG

In a speech late Wednesday, Lecornu confronted concerns over energy prices, saying France would release diesel reserves as part of a recent agreement among Group of Seven nations. He didn’t address the student complaints that have fueled about two weeks of demonstrations.

The government faces a wide range of demands from farmers, fishermen, truckers and construction companies, as well as nurses and people who rely on cars for work and are being hit by high fuel prices. It has suspended the use of some weapons by police after a student lost a hand due to an explosive, further fueling students’ complaints about police violence.

Another day of demonstrations is planned for Oct. 13.

The student unrest is fueling investor concerns about France’s deficit targets, parliamentary gridlock over the government budget and uncertainty surrounding the presidential election and the fiscal policies of the candidates.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, whose party has never held the presidency, is leading in polls. French political uncertainty has roiled the bond market since President Emmanuel Macron’s failed gamble to call early elections in 2024, which resulted in a hung parliament.