François Picard welcomes Jean-Rémi Girard, president of the SNALC teachers' union, who places responsibility for France's educational difficulties not simply on demographic change or fiscal constraints, but on years of political decisions that, he argues, have weakened the state education system. Against a backdrop of student protests, budgetary uncertainty and mounting concerns over educational inequality, Girard contends that the French government faces the formidable task of addressing a crisis largely of its own making. The French education system, Girard argues, is caught between competing imperatives: reducing public expenditure, tackling teacher shortages, accommodating growing demand for higher education and safeguarding equal access to academic opportunity. His critique is particularly striking in its historical dimension. During French President Emmanuel Macron's first term, Girard points out, the government eliminated 8,000 secondary teaching positions even as student enrolment was rising. "They created most of the problems that everybody is trying to solve now," he argues. Despite declining enrolment in some schools, staffing shortages persist, leaving institutions struggling to replace absent teachers and maintain adequate classroom conditions. Girard's critique of the current state of French education is all-encompassing. Turning to Parcoursup, France's university admissions platform that was introduced under Macron in 2018, he challenges the tendency to identify the admissions system itself as the principal source of student frustration. "The problem is not Parcoursup per se," he explains. Rather, the deeper contradiction lies in the widening gap between growing demand for university studies and the limited capacity of higher education institutions to accommodate students' aspirations. This raises broader questions about fairness, educational opportunity and social mobility. As Girard succinctly puts it: "We cannot push the walls." Girard also examines the relationship between educational discontent and wider social unrest. While acknowledging that the student movement has evolved amid broader cost-of-living protests and episodes of rioting, he cautions against allowing the unrest to overshadow the underlying educational grievances. The protests, he insists, have exposed "very big problems" within the national education system – concerns shared by students, teachers and unions alike. Ultimately, Girard raises a fundamental question about French politics and the socioeconomics of public education: can governments credibly promise educational improvement while confronting severe fiscal constraints, political instability and budgetary policies that risk undermining investment in public education and social mobility for France's youth? For Girard, the distinction between political announcements and meaningful reform is crucial. Although he acknowledges that the government's latest proposals represent a tentative step forward, he remains sceptical of commitments lacking concrete guarantees and secure funding. Without an approved parliamentary budget, he warns, the promised measures "won't become real".
