A sustained mobilization. Between 10 and 30% of nursery and elementary school teachers were on strike this Tuesday, March 31, at the call of five unions, to demand salary increases but also to contest the job cuts and class closures planned in the 2026 budget. also the second degree, where it is however more difficult to measure since teachers are not required to declare themselves before D-Day. In Paris, several left-wing parliamentarians joined the procession. The inter-union denounces “the government’s budgetary choices”, and considers that the 4,000 job cuts planned in the 2026 finance law will lead to “a deterioration of working and learning conditions”.
Officially, the reduction in numbers is motivated by the decline in the birth rate, and therefore in school demographics. These are adjustment measures, which will also have financial effects, particularly welcome in a period of budgetary scarcity. The Senate Finance Committee estimated the savings made by these job cuts at 75 million euros, out of a total budget of 64.5 billion euros, an increase of 0.26% compared to 2025.
In detail: 3,256 positions cut concern the public, and 762 from private establishments under contract. In the public, 1,891 positions will be eliminated in nursery and primary school, and 1,365 in secondary school.
But the extent of these reductions raises questions, with the unions accusing the State of using demography as an alibi, especially since the job cuts seem contradictory with the needs linked to the policies implemented since 2017, and which were moving towards a strengthening of supervision, with the doubling of classes and the implementation of needs groups in middle school. demographic variable cannot be the main compass for choices in terms of resources for national education. This headlong rush must stop. We are now warning of the need to preserve national education in the next budget,” writes the inter-union in a statement. communicated.
One million fewer schoolchildren over ten years
“There are realities which we must take into account collectively and which will hold us back for at least the next 20 years,” defended Édouard Geffray, the Minister of National Education, Monday on the sidelines of a trip to Lyon. “We have had a demographic drop like our country has never experienced in its history. We will have lost in the first degree, one million students between 2019 and 2029 out of 6.5 million,” he explained, recalling that the job cuts planned for this year only represent “0.5% of the workforce there where we lose 1.5% of students.” In fact, the ministry forecasts approximately 150,000 fewer students at the next school year, after a drop of 106,900 last September. For its part, the Court of Auditors estimates that the number of students enrolled in college should fall by 12% over the coming decade, or even by 20% in certain rural departments.
Following these developments, Senator LR Olivier Paccaud, rapporteur for school education appropriations, had even proposed during the last budgetary discussions to double the number of job cuts, to bring them to 8,000. finances was half lower than the expected demographic development, especially since no job cuts were made in 2025. We cannot ever ignore the demographic and budgetary context, especially with 3.4 trillion euros of debts,” he defends to Public Senate. “But I was not followed by my colleagues, even my political group was cautious.”
Lower the supervision rate
Because some believe that the demographic decline is also an opportunity to reduce the supervision rate in France, often cited as one of the highest among OECD countries. In 2023, it was 14.7 students per middle school teacher, compared to 13 in Germany, 12.6 in Japan and 9.7 in Portugal. On the other hand, it is lower than that of the United Kingdom (17 students per teacher) and similar to that of the United States. “Let’s take advantage of this to breathe new life, let’s take advantage of it to restore quality and let’s take advantage of it to truly provide equity and quality of education for all the students in our country,” argued socialist senator Karine Daniel in the morning of Public Senate.
Questioned on the subject during the session of questions to the government at the National Assembly, this Tuesday afternoon, the minister defended the results of the executive in the matter: “In Seine-Saint-Denis, since 2017, we have gone from 23.7 to 19.7 students per class in the first level. In priority education, we are at 17.2 students per class,” listed Édouard Geffray. “We are reducing the number of positions, but the demographic collapse is such that the supervisory rate is also falling,” confirms Olivier Paccaud to Public Sénat. “Even if, from time to time, certain classes can actually increase to more than twenty students. HAS”
“In this case, we should not underestimate the frustration of parents who see their children in overcrowded classes, while a few kilometers away, in a priority education zone, there will only be twelve of them,” adds the elected official, who evokes the need to readjust the mechanics development of the school map.
With the school map, “the State does mathematics”
Published last December, a transpartisan Senate report on “the educational competence of local authorities in the face of demographic developments” highlights the administrative logic which prevails at the time of establishing the school map, without taking sufficient account of the territorial specificities. “The development of the school map too often remains experienced as an ax imposed, without real consultation, on teachers, parents and local elected officials. In territories that are already weakened, this situation is particularly critical, the disappearance of a class or a school being able to threaten the very vitality of the municipality,” write the elected officials.
The so-called “school map” measures correspond to the opening or closing of classes. Each year, government services, in conjunction with the education administration in the territories, define the needs for the coming year and carry out adjustments, a long process marked by numerous stages. From October, the departmental National Education services establish forecasts, which are transmitted to the rectorate and the ministry. Then, the ministry defines the needs academy by academy, then instructs the different rectorates to distribute the staff between the departments.
If the opening or closing of classes depends solely on the rectorate, the closure of an establishment is a decision which involves local elected officials. Thus, the closure or opening of a school must be validated by the municipal council. This skill depends on the departments for colleges and the regions for high schools. Except that in certain cases, class closures end up endangering the sustainability of establishments, especially if they are small structures, in particular by reducing their attractiveness. “We know that in a rural school where there are only two classes left, it’s dramatic for the teachers, dramatic in terms of educational dynamics, and it’s dramatic for the town obviously,” explains socialist Karine Daniel.
“Today, there is a shared responsibility, between the State which does mathematics, and local elected officials who do not always anticipate future demographic developments,” explains Senator LR Laurent Somon, co-author of the report cited above. Among the Senate’s recommendations: the establishment of a six-year programming law, “setting the national strategy for jobs, openings and closures of classes or schools.” “It would give the necessary visibility to local elected officials, and would make it possible to initiate consultations with families,” explains the senator.
“Instead of having strict closures, which give the feeling of a drastic reduction in numbers, we must find a way to develop a finer modulation,” continues Laurent Somon. “The students are no longer those of yesterday. The profession has become more difficult, and in certain disadvantaged rural areas, adapting educational needs also requires maintaining classes with very small numbers. »
