France on Fire
Billions for War, but No Money for Our Children
“The state can find billions for war and weapons, but it has no money for notebooks, psychologists, or teachers for its own children.” This is one of the main grievances directed at the current government by high school students who have taken to the streets of French cities as part of their protests.
The country is facing an acute shortage of teaching staff. This is hardly surprising, given that salaries in the French education system remain among the lowest in Western Europe relative to the level of qualifications required. Schools are facing a catastrophic shortage of medical staff, psychologists, and assistants for children with disabilities. Because there are not enough officials responsible for overseeing practical training, students are unable to formally confirm completion of their mandatory internships, and without this confirmation they cannot receive their high school diplomas.
The authorities systematically justify class closures, the elimination of teaching positions, and cuts to education funding by pointing to France’s declining birth rate. Protesters and trade unions, however, quite reasonably point out that instead of using the falling number of children as an opportunity to reduce overcrowding in classrooms - which remains critical in areas such as the suburbs of Paris - the ministry simply cuts budgets and staff positions while leaving students to study under the same difficult conditions.
As part of its policy to reduce the public deficit, the French government introduced radical cuts to education budgets in 2026. But the main issue lies in the stark contrast between cuts to social spending and the unprecedented growth of military expenditure.
Under the adopted Military Programming Law, France is allocating €413 billion to defence through 2030. This means the country’s military budget is increasing by €3-4 billion every year. These areas of spending are considered “protected” and are not subject to cuts.
Because the budgets of the Ministry of the Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior are effectively untouchable and continue to grow, the main burden of “belt-tightening” falls on other major civilian ministries. The Ministry of National Education traditionally has the largest budget in France, which is why, together with the environmental and healthcare sectors, it becomes one of the main targets for cuts.
Given that French politicians are spending enormous sums on defence while placing increasing emphasis specifically on offensive weapon systems, it becomes perfectly clear that the country - and, in principle, Europe as a whole - is already being openly prepared for another global military conflict. And in light of these plans, it makes absolutely no difference how far the education system deteriorates, because the diploma you have sitting at home becomes completely irrelevant when you are sitting in a trench or bunker with a rifle in your hands.
Yes, we must take to the streets and make our protest and our disagreement with the actions of the authorities heard. But these protests should not be driven only by local problems. Our main task is to stop the arms race, prevent a global conflict, and reduce defence budgets to a reasonable minimum. This would make it possible to redirect public funds toward far more important areas such as education, healthcare, environmental protection, and support for civilian industry—which in itself would create new jobs and improve people’s standard of living.
The time has come to take to the streets and reclaim the rights that have been taken away from us today.
We do not want to fight.
We want to live in peace.
And that is our choice!
Robert Lewanowski