French student protests: 'There's been lack of investment in education for years now'

So we can speak now to one teacher at a high school here in the Paris region, Axel Beravesio. Thanks so much for your time and joining us here on France 24. Let's start with the students who are showing no signs of letting up on their protests. What are your students saying about it all? Well, at first it was not very clear, but now I think they're just trying to keep the movement going until at least the end of the week. And they're already thinking about what they could do if there was no real answer before that. They have a two-week break, so I have no idea what it could lead to, but maybe the movement can keep going. Now, the government has responded, saying they hear their demands, that they will look into it, and indeed already said that some 3,000 substitute teachers would start to be deployed within days. I mean, what do you make of that concession? How big a problem is it? And is this a reasonable response? I think no one sees it as an answer to the whole movement. It's a way to say we tried something, but it's clear that it's not the right answer. The problem is there is a lack of investments in education. there's been lack of investment for four years now and the the few teachers the the government mentioned we don't even know if they exist in some cases they just decided to ask a math teacher to become french teacher overnight so it's clearly not enough and no one is expecting this to change anything about the the movement now the school you are currently working at is a very new school it was built just a couple of years ago but i know you have worked elsewhere um from your personal experience can you tell us a bit about the conditions in some schools here in france i mean it seems that for quite a number of years now students are sitting in very dilapidated buildings and tell us about what you've seen and the impact that has on students trying to learn yes well now i'm very privileged but in some some schools high schools junior high schools uh you can you can imagine the the ceilings are falling down uh and i know very close to my high school uh they don't have enough chairs or tables in the classrooms to just have a normal class. And it's because the way it's organized in France, the local authorities are not investing enough money in some cases, or they're investing money in some high schools, but not in all of them. So it's starting to be a real problem. It's been a problem for years, but now I think some students in Créteil decided that it was enough and they couldn't bear that any longer. Indeed, it seems there's really certain neighbourhoods and certain communities that are getting less resources than others. But I imagine, I mean, this is an issue teachers have been raising in the past. I mean, were teachers simply ignored? Exactly. Well, we've been ignored basically about every demand we made. There's been the whole educational reform about the Blanquer reforms seven years ago. a huge majority of teachers was against it from the beginning we've been warning that it would create more problems more stress for the students and unfortunately we were right and they they still refuse to change anything about it and about the the infrastructures the dilapidated buildings Because it's been, well, people told the government for years, but the high schools are not directly funded by the state. So it's at the local level. But it's the same. They're not investing. They decided to invest money elsewhere or not invest any money in public services in general. So we're just at the conclusion of the logics we've been seeing for years. Can you tell me a bit more about the reform that took place and what was wrong with it? Because I know that one of the students demands is changes that have been made, notably to how they gain access to universities, which they say is very unfair. The so-called Parcoursup, which I believe is access to university. Well, yeah, I think the problem with the reforms, well, you have two levels. The first one might be Parcoursup. Basically, it was a way to explain that now every university can decide to select a number of students. Seen like this, it doesn't seem very new. The thing is, the demands were to invest money, to have more universities that could welcome students that could choose their subject. Instead of that, the reform decided to basically select just a few students and send the others to any other kind of subject they didn't really want to study. And the other problem with the Blanquer reforms is that they changed the way it's organized in high school. And now students usually have classes from 8 in the morning till 5 or 6 in the afternoon. Sometimes they have gaps in between. it's just one hour and then a three hour gap and another class and it's really really they can do anything apart from going to school in my high school now they have school on wednesday afternoon which was not the case before uh they have school on saturday morning and we're always talking about mental health for for teenagers but obviously this can't help they have no time for any other activities. So it's a mix of many demands that are leading to the current movement. Indeed. And we're, I mean, the blockades continue and we're expecting another mass protest here in Paris, but also in cities across France this Tuesday. I mean, we have seen a very harsh police crackdown on these teenagers demanding for resources. I mean, how are the students feeling about that? And, you know, how do you feel about it all, reaction there? Well, the way they're treated is really not acceptable, but unfortunately, we're used to that. I mean, it's been approximately 10 years, even 15 years. The way the governments are using the police is really a disgrace. I think the students, I don't think it's going to stop them. They're really revolted because of that, seeing other teenagers losing eyes, hands and being hit. Some people going to a 24-hour stay in a police station. I really don't think it's, well, first it's a problem because it should not happen in a democracy, but it's not this that is going to kill the movement, which is probably what the government thinks. Okay, Axel, we'll have to leave it there, Robert, thank you so much for joining us here on France 24 and bringing us your insight. Very much appreciated. Thank you.