Education Minister Edouard Geffray said 400 to 500 of about 3,700 schools were likely to be fully or partly closed on Monday. He said 24 schools had been burned or ransacked and 78 staff injured since the protests began.
Hundreds of French high schools were closed or disrupted on Monday as student protests over rundown buildings and teacher shortages continued. National Education Minister Edouard Geffray said on Sunday evening that 400 to 500 of about 3,700 schools were likely to be fully or partly closed.
Geffray said 24 schools had been burned or ransacked and 78 teaching staff injured since the protests began. Demonstrations started late last month at a high school in a Paris suburb over teacher shortages and then spread.
Government spokesperson Maud Bregeon told CNews that the priority was to restore order. Al Jazeera reported barricades of bins and fences at a Paris high school. BFMTV showed clashes in Lille, tear gas in Toulouse and a fire as people tried to enter a school in central Paris.
Carole Zerbib, head of Lycée Vauquelin in Paris's 13th arrondissement, said a group in hoods and masks attacked her school. She called the group very determined.
The education ministry had not published a final count of Monday closures when morning reports went out. Geffray's range of 400 to 500 schools is the official estimate cited by Al Jazeera and Reuters.
People Sentiments Negative
- Bregeon said the priority was to restore order
- Zerbib said a masked group attacked Lycée Vauquelin
- Students have protested teacher shortages and school conditions