On Tuesday, October 29, in the Finance Commission of the National Assembly, deputies canceled the elimination of 4,000 teaching positions planned in the 2025 budget, giving a signal before the debates in the chamber. This is just a first round of warming up this “spending” part of the state budget, and all amendments must be approved again in the chamber, where deputies will start from the initial version.
The Assembly’s finance committee adopted the amendment by La France insoumise (LFI) deputy Paul Vannier. “The entire New Popular Front [NFP] voted for »Vannier’s entourage assured Agence France-Presse.
According to him, “The school demographic decline that has been occurring for several years and will continue in the coming years could allow France to finally reach the OECD average. [Organisation pour la coopération et le développement économiques] “. And to specify: “In our country, there are 22 students per class in primary school compared to 19 in the OECD average; at the university it is 26 versus 21. Therefore, we must maintain at least the number of teaching positions and we intend to create more. »
“A real sangria”
The government announced on October 10 the elimination of 4,000 teaching positions during the presentation of the 2025 budget, which provoked strong reactions from teaching unions who mentioned “a real sangria”.
In the detail of fewer teaching places, the first public level (kindergarten and primary school) is the most affected with a drop of 3,155 places. The public secondary level (middle and high schools) lost 180 places, the private primary level 660 and finally the private secondary level 40, according to the ministry. To justify these job cuts, Rue de Grenelle highlights the drop in the number of students, “which should accelerate with 97,000 fewer students at the beginning of the 2025 school year”.
However, the Minister of Education, Anne Genetet, stated after the presentation of the budget that “developments” are still possible during “parliamentary debate”.
