Teachers have gone on strike in France demanding higher salaries and more government support amid the Covid-19 crisis.
Schools have remained open since September because of the government’s concern over learning gaps, despite threats of a third lockdown in the country.
Schoolteachers and university students marched together in protests or went on strike Tuesday around France to make their demands.
‘No virus protocol, no school!’ read posters carried by schoolteachers, demanding better virus protections at their schools.
‘Sick of Zoom!’ chanted university students, frustrated that they’ve been barred from campuses since October.
The common concern at Tuesday’s protests in Paris, Marseilles, Lille, Lyon and other cities around France was economic.
Teachers have gone on strike in France demanding higher salaries and more government support amid the Covid-19 crisis. Pictured: French professors, students and nurses march for the revaluation of salaries and against the precariousness of students in Paris, January 26
Schools have remained open since September because of the government’s concern over learning gaps, despite threats of a third lockdown in the country.
Schoolteachers and university students marched together in protests or went on strike Tuesday around France to make their demands. Pictured: Students demonstrate in Lille, northern France on January 26 to demand more government support amid the pandemic
Teachers unions, who are negotiating with the government for improved conditions, want higher salaries and for the government to hire more educators after years of cost cuts.
The education ministry says about 12 percent of teachers nationwide took part in a national call to strike Tuesday.
Students, meanwhile, are seeking more government financial support and want to call attention to emotional troubles among young people cut off from friends, professors and job opportunities amid the pandemic.
Even as the French government considers imposing a third lockdown, the prime minister allowed first-year students to return to partial classes this week.
He acknowledging that lockdown-related mental health problems among young people are also a public health concern.
France has among the world’s highest number of virus infections and deaths.
Pictured: Students demonstrate during a rally as part of a nation-wide striking day of teachers and students over salaries for teachers and the government’s handling of the health pandemic in schools, on January 26 in Paris
‘No virus protocol, no school!’ read posters carried by schoolteachers, demanding better virus protections at their schools. Pictured: Students demonstrate in Paris
A protester holds a sign reading ‘Stop Contempt, More Teachers, More Salaries’ as French teachers, students and National Education workers demonstrate as part of a strike for jobs, wages and working conditions in Paris, January 26
Teachers unions, who are negotiating with the government for improved conditions, want higher salaries and for the government to hire more educators after years of cost cuts. Pictured: A student holds a banner during a demonstration, January 26, in Lyon
The number of people hospitalised in France for COVID-19 rose by more than 1,000 over the last two days, a trend unseen since November 16.
On Monday, the number of patients in intensive care units for the disease exceeded 3,000 for the first time since December 9.
A growing number of medical experts have called for a third lockdown in France while the government rolls out the vaccine, but French media reported that President Emmanuel Macron was trying to avoid such a measure.
As of Monday, France had vaccinated 1,092,958 people, which equates to 1.67 per 100 people in the country. In comparison, the UK has vaccinated 7.04 million people, or 10.38 per 100 people.
The common concern at Tuesday’s protests in Paris, Marseille and other cities around France was economic. Pictured: Students hold a cardboard made to look like a laptop with a cage for a screen in Lyon on January 26. ‘Sick of Zoom!’ chanted university students, frustrated that they’ve been barred from campuses since October
A protester holds a sign reading ‘Digitalized education = Low Cost Education’ as French teachers, students and National Education workers demonstrate as part of a strike for jobs, wages and working conditions in Paris, January 26
The number of people hospitalised in France for COVID-19 rose by more than a 1,000 over the last two days, a trend unseen since November 16. A third national lockdown is looming, but despite this schools have remained open
Macron hopes a 6 p.m. curfew put in place earlier this month will be enough to rein in the surge in new infections prompted by the emergence of more contagious variants of the virus.
Getting the number of patients treated in ICUs for COVID-19 below the 3,000 limit was the main justification for replacing the second lockdown with the national curfew on December 15.
At 3,081, the ICU total is less than half its all time high of 7,148 on April 4, but has grown almost every day since January 7.
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Bloomberg Television that a new lockdown would make it very difficult for the country to reach its 2021 target of 6 percent economic growth.
The government had also aimed to bring the average new daily cases below 5,000 before lifting the second lockdown.
A growing number of medical experts have called for a third lockdown in France while the government rolls out the vaccine, but French media reported that President Emmanuel Macron was trying to avoid such a measure. Pictured: Macron on January 26 in Paris
A Protester displayed a sign on his bag reading ‘Blanquer Authoritarian Minister’ depicting French Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer as a police man during a protest, January 26
The education ministry says about 12 percent of teachers nationwide took part in a national call to strike Tuesday (pictured)
Students are seeking more government financial support and want to call attention to emotional troubles among young people cut off from friends, professors and job opportunities amid the pandemic. Pictured: Teachers and students protest in Paris on January 26
After a 54,440 high on November 7, the seven-day moving average of daily new infections, which averages out reporting irregularities, fell to 10,348 on December 4 but is now back up to 20,240 after a two-month high of 20,447 on Monday.
The daily tally of new COVID infections was 22086 on Tuesday, while France’s cumulative total of cases now stands at 3,079,943, the sixth-highest in the world.
The country’s COVID-19 death toll was up by 612 on Tuesday, taking the cumulative total to 74,106, the world’s seventh highest.
On Monday, the seven-day moving average of new fatalities increased to 401, the highest since December 9, but down slightly to 395 on Tuesday
Government minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said on Tuesday that there is no need for the French government to make a decision on a new national lockdown at this stage, as it is still evaluating results from its current night curfew.
France has imposed a 6pm-6am curfew, though some doctors and medics have called for a new lockdown to tackle a resurgence of COVID-19 cases.
‘To the best of my knowledge, and based on the data we have at our disposal, at this stage there is no reason to decide on a lockdown,’ she told BFM TV on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, French Health Minister Olivier Veran said that he had decided to maintain to 21-28 days the gap between the injection of the first and the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19.
Veran told a news conference he made that choice out of caution, citing a lack of scientific evidence that extending the gap would be totally safe.