Visitor rates reached 13.2% in primary school (kindergarten and elementary) and 7.18% in secondary school, with 9.7% in middle schools, 4.94% in general high schools and 3.5% in vocational high schools, detailed the ministry in a statement. Including other staff, the average is 7.56%.
Unions report a higher mobilization, with 25% of striking teachers, including nearly 20% in Paris and around 30% in Lyon, Créteil, and Normandy, according to the Snes-FSU, the majority union in secondary school, and around 30% in schools, estimated the SNUipp-FSU, the primary school’s main union.
“This day follows weeks of mobilizations, which started in January,” recalls Sophie Vénétitay, general secretary of Snes-FSU. On February 17, several hundred people notably demonstrated in Paris and about 6.16% of teachers in Île-de-France were on strike.
A highlight of a week of actions, the strike is accompanied by demonstrations in many cities. In Paris, a procession will depart from Luxembourg at 2:00 PM towards the Ministry of National Education.
In Marseille, 800 people demonstrated, including 200 high school students, according to the prefecture.
“We are eliminating positions when we could have taken advantage of the demographic decline (…) to maintain resources as they are and at that time, have better teaching conditions for students,” lamented Éric Mampaey, regional secretary of Unsa Education, to AFP.
Earlier in the morning, about ten students blocked the entrance of Montgrand high school in central Marseille, denouncing the reduction of resources. “Here, 100 hours will be removed,” testified Loeiza Cambie, 16 years old, a first-year student. “We will have fewer options and classes with up to 36 students.”
– 4,000 posts eliminated –
In Clermont-Ferrand, where 105 positions are being cut across the academy, about 200 people marched behind the banner “For public schools, against job cuts.”
In the procession, Armelle Sunier, 49, a kindergarten teacher, said she was “angry.” “The demographic decline could have been an opportunity to have more staff because there are many children suffering and fewer resources to support them.”
In Lyon, around 200 people marched from the rectorate to the Trade Union Bourse. Contacted by AFP, the Lyon rectorate had not yet released participation figures.
The main concern of Nathalie Rougane-Ghilardi, director of a school north of Lyon, is the elimination of positions in specialized educational structures for students with disabilities. “Removing these positions is absurd. That’s why I’m angry,” she told AFP, noting that “we have more and more children” suffering from the situation.
Overall, 4,000 teaching positions, public and private combined, are expected to be cut for the 2026 school year, including 1,891 in public primary schools and 1,365 in secondary schools.
“We are experiencing a demographic decline like our country has never seen in its history,” Education Minister Édouard Geffray reiterated in Lyon on Monday. “We are doing everything possible to minimize the consequences of these class closures,” he added, assuring that “there are still a few months to make adjustments.”
“It is not demographics that guided the decision-making, it is the clear and assumed desire by this minister and so many others to save money on the public education service,” denounced Sophie Vénétitay.
