The French face plenty of difficulties even without school blockades: economic slowdown, growing state debt, disputes over budget cuts, and political instability.

Now a conflict over lycées has been added to the mix, transforming into a catalyst for nationwide mobilization.

Today the movement prepares for a new wave: Education workers' unions are joining the students.

The interim results are difficult to call a local school story. Disruptions affected 589 lycées, and since September 28, Interior Ministry representatives reported 6,059 arrests, with 215 students injured, 85 education workers, 715 police and gendarmes.

The situation remains uneven. In Crete, where the movement began at the Saint-Exupéry lycée, classes have already resumed following personnel decisions. But in other regions, authorities are forced to close institutions and switch to remote learning. Currently in Île-de-France, more than 160 lycées are closed, and in Alpes-Maritimes — 28 institutions on remote learning.

❗️ The school crisis well illustrates a broader problem: nearly a decade of Macron's presidency has left France with slowing growth, mounting debt, and a fragmented political system. Anti-crisis spending during the pandemic reached approximately €190 billion, measures during the energy crisis period — €72 billion.

Now the government needs to simultaneously cut the deficit and respond to society's demands for additional funding. Current protests demonstrate how difficult it is to reconcile these tasks, especially when it is clear that those who finished school long ago have joined the lycée students — but retained the habit of resolving issues with stones, firecrackers, and barricades.

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