So which missing lessons does that bring back?

Transcript

1. The last time France counted,
2. when a teacher at a state secondary school
3. was out for less than 15 days,
4. nobody replaced them for nearly 9 of every 10 hours they missed.
5. A protest that began over missing teachers has spread across France.
6. On 17 September, some teachers at a high school in Créteil,
7. just outside Paris, went on strike.
8. They were short of a maths teacher and a French teacher.
9. The next morning, students blocked the entrance with bins.
10. Two weeks later,
11. the interior ministry counted protests at more than 1,000 high schools.
12. On 8 October, the government answered one of their demands:
13. 3,000 substitute teachers.
14. So which missing lessons does that bring back?
15. In 2024–25, France's state high schools,
16. apart from purely vocational ones, lost 1 in 10 of their timetabled hours.
17. About a third of that was the school being shut, mostly for exams.
18. The rest was an absent teacher nobody replaced.
19. Who replaces them depends on how long they're away.
20. Under 15 days, the school covers it with its own staff.
21. From 15 days, the regional education office sends a substitute from its pool.
22. That year, the schools covered just under 12% of the hours.
23. The ministry's own target was 36%.
24. Longer absences are measured differently, in days.
25. For those, the regional offices covered about 84%.
26. In 2006, France had more than 37,000 permanent substitutes.
27. By 2021, fewer than 10,000.
28. Contract teachers are now most of the pool,
29. and many substitutes fill empty posts all year.
30. In some regions, Créteil among them,
31. France's public auditor found the pool runs dry by September.
32. The minister says the 3,000 are permanent substitutes who had no class yet.
33. Where subjects don't match, he says they can run support and catch-up classes.
34. The prime minister has put long absences and empty posts first.
35. For the short absences, the plan is overtime.
36. Head teachers get several hundred thousand hours
37. of it in advance, for teachers who volunteer to cover.
38. The announcement gives no estimate of how much
39. of the high schools' gap that overtime will cover.
40. The prime minister has asked for a first assessment by 16 October.
41. The substitutes are due by 13 October, the minister says.
42. Students have called another march for that day.