The number of students enrolled in public and private nursery and primary schools has decreased by 1.2% at the beginning of the 2024 school year, according to a note from the Ministry of Education published on Friday, October 18, while the government plans to eliminate 4,000 teaching positions in the 2025 finance bill, due to demographic decline.
“At the beginning of the 2024 school year, 6.262 million students are registered in public and private schools under contract, that is, 78,100 fewer students than at the beginning of the 2023 school year, which represents a 1.2% decrease in enrollment, according to the ‘demographic effect’reports the Directorate of Evaluation, Prospective and Performance (DEPP), the statistical agency of the Ministry of Education.
The statistical service indicates that the most significant decrease refers to primary school, with a drop of 61,200 students (- 1.5%), compared to 2023. In kindergarten, the ministry noted a drop of 18,800 students (- 0 .8%). A reduction in students “ “It affects almost all levels, except for the number of 3-year-old children who make slight progress (+ 0.6%)”.
In detail, at the beginning of the 2024 school year, the drop in numbers “is stronger in the public sector than in the private contract sector (− 1.4% against − 0.4%). It affects rural areas more than urban areas (− 1.6% against − 1.1%) »underlines the DEPP. “All academies are seeing their numbers fall in primary education, with the exception of Mayotte (+1.7%) and Guyana (+1.3%). In the academies of Lille, the numbers are decreasing more and more (− 2.3%), Nancy-Metz (− 2.1%), Besançon and Reims (− 2%) »according to her.
The ministry foresees 97,000 fewer students at the beginning of the 2025 school year
The government announced the week of October 7 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”. Grenelle Street highlights the drop in the number of students “which should accelerate with 97,000 fewer students at the beginning of the 2025 school year”, of them 3,155 in public primary education and 181 in public secondary education, the rest in private education.
However, Education Minister Anne Genetet declared on Sunday that “developments” are still possible during “parliamentary debate”. But after this announcement, the teaching unions threatened to go on strike. They were received on Wednesday at the minister’s office.
Pending the parliamentary debate, the cabinet proposed relaunching “the social agenda”without further details according to the unions. The ministry, for its part, presented to the press several projects that it intends to inaugurate soon: low salaries, career progression or even working conditions, without specifying the financing.
