Young people in France continued their nationwide protests over the weekend, demanding better education facilities and a promising future amid the rising cost of living in the country. France’s Ministry of Interior said 410,000 people protested nationwide on Saturday, including 110,000 in Paris, as the government has struggled to address the issues raised by the student-led protests. France was also roiled by nearly two years of protests beginning in 2018 over the high cost of living and opposition to French President Emmanuel Macron’s economic policies.
Those protests, which were led by the Yellow Vests movement, demanded that the government address the rising economic inequality, boost welfare and public services, and tax the rich. As the young protesters take to the streets, many of the old demands remain unfulfilled. So, why have French politicians been unable to address the issues facing the country?
The youth-led protests in France erupted last month amid deteriorating conditions in schools, broader economic anxieties and opposition to government budget cuts. The protests began in mid-September after high school students blockaded campuses over overcrowded classrooms (often 32–35 pupils per room), unreplaced teacher absences, and dilapidated building infrastructure. Protesters have waved placards reading statements like “We have a future to build, not to endure”, as they expressed frustration with shrinking public resources and state investment.
Teachers have also joined the students protesting over low salaries. French teachers are paid less on average than their counterparts in other European countries like Germany, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Education at a Glance 2026 report. School teachers in France earn a gross salary of 41,968 euros ($46,900) per annum compared with 69,453 euros ($77,700) for their German counterparts.
Social taxes, high pension contributions and the rising cost of living eat into their monthly income. What started as a localised strike over school resources has since drawn in trade unions as well as civil servants, and the protests have evolved into a broader economic and political crisis. This is due to discontent over the government’s proposed 54-billion-euro ($60bn) package of cost-cutting and tax measures for the 2027 budget, which includes civil servant salary freezes.
Students and youth fear bearing the brunt of public spending reductions amid a multidecade high in poverty rates and rising costs of living, exacerbated by the United States-Israel war on Iran. Currently, according to Amine Snoussi, a journalist for Le Media TV and a former parliamentary assistant at the French National Assembly, the condition of public high schools is dire since government money is being spent elsewhere. In some schools, absent teachers haven’t been replaced for over six months.
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