Politics · France · 2 hrs ago
France says deployment of 3,000 substitute teachers has begun
France’s education minister promised 3,000 substitute teachers for high schools facing the most serious staffing problems.
Government spokesperson Maud Bregeon said on Monday, October 12, that the deployment had begun.
The move comes as high school students continue protests that started in mid-September.
The government hopes the plan will address one of the protesters’ demands.
Bregeon said arranging replacements is complex and that an optimization tool is being put in place quickly.
She said teachers would not be asked to replace absent teachers in a different subject.
The head of the Snes-FSU teachers’ union called the plan ambitious and said some teachers had been asked to cover subjects outside their own, which could leave lessons untaught.
Students were due to hold a fifth round of demonstrations on Tuesday.
France’s government spokesperson Maud Bregeon said deployment of 3,000 substitute teachers to the country’s most affected high schools had begun.
Education Minister Edouard Geffray had promised the deployment in response to one of the demands of student protests.
Bregeon said an accelerated system was being set up to organize replacements.
A teachers’ union leader called the plan ambitious but disconnected from conditions on the ground.
- Who
- The French government, represented by spokesperson Maud Bregeon, and teachers’ union leader Sophie Vénétitay.
- What
- The deployment of 3,000 substitute teachers to high schools where staffing conditions are most critical has begun, the government says.
- When
- Bregeon said this on Monday, 12 October 2026.
- Where
- France. The replacements are intended for the high schools in the most critical situations.
- Why
- The deployment is intended to address one of the demands of the student protest movement.
French government
Snes-FSU union
Plan’s progress
French government
Maud Bregeon said deployment of the 3,000 substitute teachers had begun.
Snes-FSU union
Sophie Vénétitay called the announcement ambitious and disconnected from conditions on the ground.
Replacing absent teachers
French government
Bregeon said replacements would not involve assigning mathematics teachers to cover French lessons.
Snes-FSU union
Vénétitay said some teachers had been asked to cover a different subject, and that the ministry said they would instead provide support or other help, leaving the lesson lost.
The deployment has begun
very ambitious
quite disconnected from realities on the ground
It is not a matter of replacing absent maths teachers with French teachers
High school students began their protest movement.
Maud Bregeon said deployment of the 3,000 substitute teachers had begun.
Students were due to hold what the article called the fifth act of demonstrations.
- Substitute teachers
- 3,000
- Intended placements
- High schools where the situation is most critical
- Government spokesperson
- Maud Bregeon
- Education minister
- Edouard Geffray
- Union leader
- Sophie Vénétitay, Snes-FSU general secretary
- Statement date
- 12 October 2026
Sources
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