Tired, demoralized and precarious: French students took to the streets on Wednesday to denounce the devastating effects of the health crisis on their daily existence.
This day of mobilization aims to “defend the living conditions and studies of students”, summarizes to AFP Mélanie Luce, president of UNEF, one of the student organizations at its origin.
Private for more than two months of face-to-face lessons, unlike students in high schools, preparatory classes for grandes écoles or BTS (vocational training), many students experience a feeling of injustice.
In Paris, several hundred demonstrators took the direction of the Ministry of Education around 2 p.m. (local time), waving placards chanting: “Face-to-face, essential product” or even “Incompetent policy, agonizing youth”, according to journalists from the ‘AFP.
“It made me react to seeing students who wanted to kill themselves. For the first time in my life, I thought about my own death ”, testifies to AFP Titouan, in the second year of philosophy at the Parisian university of La Sorbonne, evoking an“ overflow of isolation ”and “A loss of meaning”.
In front of the buildings of the University of Rennes (west), where 250 students have gathered, Josselin, 21, came to express his “despair in the face of loneliness”.
“It’s hard, I’ve been all alone facing myself in my 18m2 for a year. Today I received my first PDF lesson, and “get by with it”. There are teachers who no longer even make the effort to make visios ”.
Last week, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced that first-year university students could resume face-to-face tutorials in half-groups from January 25.
This measure will then be extended, “if the health situation allows it, to students of other levels,” he added.
It is necessary “to reopen the faculties for all the students”, estimates Mélanie Luce, by calling for doubling the classes and hiring additional teachers to supervise them.
Several recent studies have measured a rise in student malaise. In recent weeks, several suicides or attempts have been recorded.
The mobilization took shape with the appearance of the hashtag “#etudiantsfantomes” on social networks.
The government expressed its “concern” at the “deep feeling of isolation” of the students and announced a reinforcement of psychologists and social workers.
Insufficient announcements in the eyes of the unions. “We have the impression that the government is not taking the measure of the situation,” laments Mélanie Luce.
The UNEF demanded an “emergency plan” for students costing 1.5 billion euros and in particular an immediate increase in grants and housing assistance, while the health crisis deprives many of the odd jobs that allowed them to make ends meet.