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Recently, France has regularly appeared in the news due to the outbreak of student riots all over the country, which began in September with the aim being to protest their education and economic conditions. What began as a student uprising has since led to a national movement consisting of students, teachers, parents and trade unions. Some of the original citations for the start of the riots were overcrowded classes, teacher shortages and a lack of public investment in social programs. The number of people involved is not known but is estimated to be around 550,000. The immense scale of these protests has brought into question the true impact of the cost of living and economic prospects for young people.
The economic pressure behind these demonstrations have been fuelled by changes in consumer prices as since Emmanuel Macron took power in 2017 consumer prices have risen 23.4%. These figures show why young people now are beginning to protest, as now when they are old enough to go off to university or get a job, or leave home in general, they may be unable to survive by themselves due to the crippling cost of living.
However, these protests are not just about the cost of living and consumer goods, they are also centred around schooling, teacher shortages and deteriorating school infrastructures. Some schools in lower income areas have been described as being “rat infested” and students are missing 10% of teaching hours a year due to shortages in teachers.
All these issues raise a question about opportunity, the issues here are present exclusively in state-run, low-income areas. A state education is supposed to provide every child with an equal opportunity to set them up for life, however if they are missing school, being placed in overcrowded classes and not getting the attention they need how are they supposed to compete with privately educated students from much nicer areas?
All of these issues raise a larger question that goes beyond France. Has the cost-of-living crisis got to a point in which it is impossible to move on without this style of protests? The fact is young people are not just asking for better schools, cheaper goods and a chance to buy a house; they’re asking for a chance at a good and equal future.
These protests have already begun to take shape around Europe, with young people protesting in Spain, Portugal and Italy. With this occurring across the continent, is it likely to occur in the UK? The short answer is yes. In an even more extreme case than France, the UK cost of goods has risen 36.55% since 2017. This extreme rise in commodities, paired with the teacher strikes ongoing since 2022, puts students in the UK in a similar position to France.
The solution:
If these issues persist and protests continue to arise as a symptom of the damage an entire generation is facing, due to the cost of living, what can be done to fix it?
A large investment into public education is clearly the first and biggest step to solving the issues for young people. It is a necessary step to level the playing field as much as possible between the higher and lower income areas to give all students more equal opportunities. Another solution is to listen to young people; they are the ones going through this and they are the ones who are the most desperate to fix it. People do not get into mobs and burn down shops for no reason. If you prevent these protests from happening by talking, listening and acting there will not be any cleaning up to do after.
I strongly believe these protests will carry on indefinitely and spread all over Europe and the Western world. Eventually students will get what they want as they are willing to do nearly anything to improve their conditions, as we all would be if it was our future on the line.
Image: Rafael Garcin, 2021// Unsplash License
Edited By Abigail Thomas
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