SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The French government is trying to calm a student protest movement. It's over dilapidated school facilities and a lack of teachers. The protest is now in its third week and has become a national crisis. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports that what began as a small student gathering at one school has hit a nerve in the country at a difficult time.
(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER #1: (Shouting in French).
(CHEERING)
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: "We've taken the Bastille," came the rallying cry from Paris' Place de la Bastille Thursday as the second nationwide student rally in a week got underway. The high schoolers' movement for better learning conditions has now become a rallying cry for equality and solidarity, and others are joining in, like college student Clara Houssain (ph) who studies at an elite Paris university. She says she's outraged by what kids in the poorer suburbs have to deal with.
CLARA HOUSSAIN: They don't have a French teacher for six months, and then they're asked to pass an exam, and that exam is supposed to be fair. But it's not fair if you haven't had a teacher for six months.
BEARDSLEY: This student protest movement is one of the biggest in decades and being compared to May 1968, when a student-led revolt toppled the government of President Charles de Gaulle. Seven months ahead of France's next presidential election, the protests are attracting plenty of political attention from the right and left. Far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon, who's running for president for a fourth time, made an early campaign video out among the students and posted it on Instagram.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Singing in French).
(CROSSTALK)
BEARDSLEY: His party has been accused of whipping up the protest.
(SOUNDBITE OF WHISTLE BLOWING)
BEARDSLEY: Thursday's Bastille rally ended with students throwing cobblestones and police charging with tear gas.
(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)
BEARDSLEY: Violence from both sides has marked the movement. As the French watch scenes of schools and vehicles burning on the nightly news, far-right leader Marine Le Pen, the front-runner for next year's presidential election, has focused on the security aspect.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MARINE LE PEN: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: "The French taxpayer can no longer pay for those who have fun destroying public property," she said. Le Pen has called to cut family benefits of minors involved in the violence and make their parents pay. The government tried to calm the crisis this week.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRIME MINISTER SEBASTIEN LECORNU: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu gave the big picture. In an address to the nation, he said the crisis had come at a time of wars in Ukraine, in the Middle East and skyrocketing energy prices. He said France was now reimbursing its debt at record borrowing costs.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
EDOUARD GEFFRAY: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: Education Minister Edouard Geffray was more specific. He said they had identified 500 schools in difficulty and will send 3,000 replacement teachers immediately. He said it was part of a bigger plan in which students would have a bigger say.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #1: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: At Lycee Saint-Exupery, in a Paris suburb where it all began on September 17, a few 10th graders are excited to be interviewed. They're standing outside their modern wood-and-glass high school, surrounded by leafy trees. They admit their school building is in good shape, but they were fed up because there weren't enough teachers, and they gathered outside last month to protest. Seventeen-year-old Abdul Kader Abdul Rahman (ph) was among them.
ABDUL KADER ABDUL RAHMAN: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: "I went five months without a French teacher. And to prepare for our national exam, to tell you the truth, we used ChatGPT," he says. Fifteen-year-old Marwa Djama (ph) says the kids are stunned by their success.
MARWA DJAMA: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: "We had no idea it would spread to all of France," she says. "We are really proud." These students say the absentee French and math teachers have been replaced since they began protesting.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #2: Merci. Au revoir.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #3: Au revoir.
BEARDSLEY: They have to go because there's a school meeting, and they are delegates representing their class.
Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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