This Is Where the French Protests Began

Paul Éluard High School in Saint-Denis had been closed for three weeks while protests continued outside. The school became a symbol because its problems reflect wider inequalities in French education. Students across France want safer buildings, better staffing, smaller classes, and more equal opportunities.

The school’s condition is especially severe. Part of the roof collapsed earlier in the year, forcing the entire school to evacuate. Students also report leaking toilets, mould, rats, cockroaches, missing furniture, and classes with up to 31 students. Some buildings are now being renovated.

The school also shows how protest can be complicated by outside actors. Bilal Narjissi says people who were not students joined demonstrations to break property and confront police. The protests have lasted more than a month, while media attention has focused heavily on violence, discrimination, and disinformation rather than school inequality.

A French lycée is an upper-secondary school for teenagers, broadly comparable to a high school. Students attend after lower-secondary education. They may be preparing for further studies, including university or other higher education. The article focuses on students at different stages of lycée.

Paul Éluard High School has around 2,000 pupils. Bilal Narjissi is in the final year, while Amina Diaw is a 15-year-old first-year student. Their experiences show that the protests involve both students nearing graduation and younger pupils still facing several years of school.

The article does not give a full national classification of lycée students or list every study pathway. It does show that students share concerns about class sizes, school buildings, staffing, and access to courses. These conditions matter because the range of courses available can influence which higher-education options students can pursue.

The demonstrations were not a brief school stoppage. The article says protests had lasted more than a month and began in September in a Paris suburb. At Paul Éluard High School, the gates had already been closed for three weeks. Students were demanding improvements to schools, while clashes and disorder drew wider national attention.

The article identifies the scale of the school as roughly 2,000 students. It also describes a group of riot police watching the situation across the road. However, it does not provide an exact number of students involved in clashes or an exact number of police deployed or affected. It says some arrested people included immigrants, foreigners, and French citizens.

This missing information matters. The article distinguishes between students’ education protests and violence involving people who may not be pupils. Bilal Narjissi says outsiders came to break things and confront police. The available figures therefore describe the school and protest duration, not total clash participants.

The students’ demands cover both basic safety and the quality of learning. They want the government to address teacher shortages, deteriorating buildings, large classes, and long school days. They are also seeking fairer school conditions, because students in poorer suburbs often study with fewer resources and fewer educational choices.

Paul Éluard provides concrete examples. A roof partly collapsed, toilets leak, walls have mould, and students report rats and cockroaches. Some classes have 31 pupils, yet lack enough chairs and desks. Across France, students lose about a tenth of the school year because substitute teachers cannot be found. Many schools also became hotter than 30 degrees during the record-hot summer.

These demands concern teaching as well as buildings. Staff shortages interrupt lessons, while weak equipment and unsafe rooms make ordinary study harder. Students also want broader course offerings. In Seine-Saint-Denis, the narrower range of lycée courses can restrict access to preferred higher-education studies.

Poor school conditions affect both daily learning and longer-term choices. Missing teachers mean lessons are cancelled or interrupted. Unsafe buildings, extreme heat, missing desks, and pests make school harder to use. Large classes can further reduce the attention and support available to each student.

The article gives a national measure of the staffing problem: lycée students lose about a tenth of their school year because substitute teachers cannot be found. At Paul Éluard, students describe leaking toilets, mould, a collapsed section of roof, and classes with up to 31 pupils. In Seine-Saint-Denis, schools also offer a narrower range of courses than Paris schools.

The mechanism is cumulative. Less teaching can weaken preparation, while fewer course choices restrict routes into preferred higher education. The article does not quantify later graduation or employment effects. It does show that unequal school resources can limit students’ educational opportunities before they make those choices.

Schools in Seine-Saint-Denis are often less well-resourced because education funding is handled by regional authorities. According to Sciences Po professor Agnès van Zanten, this arrangement creates major differences between wealthy central districts and poorer suburbs. The problem is therefore not only individual school management, but also how public resources are distributed across places.

The article describes Seine-Saint-Denis as an area where less than one-third of residents have an immigrant background and more than one-third live below the poverty line. A recent study found that its lycée course offerings are narrower than those in Paris. Paul Éluard High School is located in this area and has serious building and staffing problems.

These conditions help explain why suburban students are more likely to protest. Van Zanten says inequality is both social and connected to ethnic background, a sensitive subject in France. The article presents regional funding differences as a central mechanism behind unequal school experiences and opportunities.

Education can either widen or reduce inequality. When schools in poorer areas receive weaker resources, students may get less teaching, worse facilities, and fewer courses. Those disadvantages can affect their preparation for higher education. Over time, families in the same area may repeatedly face the same limited opportunities.

The article describes this mechanism in Seine-Saint-Denis. Its lycée students have a narrower course selection than students in Paris, which limits access to preferred higher-education studies. Paul Éluard also has mould, leaking toilets, missing furniture, overcrowded classes, and a history of unresolved building problems. Teacher shortages cause students across France to lose about a tenth of the school year.

The article does not provide data tracking several generations. It does show why the issue can persist: regional funding creates different school conditions, while poverty and immigrant background are concentrated in the area. Professor Agnès van Zanten says this inequality is both social and ethnic, although discussing ethnic inequality remains a taboo in France.