A wave of student-led protests in Paris has drawn tens of thousands onto the streets to demand urgent action on deteriorating school infrastructure and teacher shortages, while also highlighting deeper systemic inequalities in education. Young demonstrators have made their voices heard with handwritten signs, framing access to schooling as a fundamental right rather than a privilege, with further strikes planned. Meanwhile, new concerns have emerged over Labour’s proposed reforms to special education in England, as parents rush to secure support for their children before changes take effect, risking the stability of the new system. The protests underscore growing frustration among students and families over the state of public education and the uneven distribution of resources.
In today’s newsletter: A youth-led movement is protesting crumbling school buildings and teacher shortages while turning adult focus onto wider educational inequalitiesGood morning. In my experience, at any protest, the most memorable and encapsulating slogans are always the ones written by hand with marker pen on cardboard placards.“School is a right, not a privilege,” read one such sign held aloft by a student in Paris, where huge youth protests over the state of high school education have brought tens of thousands of young people and adults on to the streets, with further strikes planned today.UK politics | Kemi Badenoch has announced that the Conservatives would abolish inheritance tax on family homes if elected, prompting criticism that she is prioritising cutting taxes for the rich.Education | Labour’s flagship changes to special education in England are at risk of unravelling because parents are rushing to secure support for their children before the system changes, new analysis has found.Spain | María del Carmen Abascal, the 87-year-old whose eviction set off a nationwide wave of protests against Spain’s housing crisis, has died.Science | A type of gene therapy based on Nobel prize-winning science is safe and can partly restore sight in blind people, researchers have revealed.Epstein | British billionaire Sir James Goldsmith warned that Jeffrey Epstein was a “sexual deviant” decades before the FBI closed in on the abuser, a Guardian investigation has found. Continue reading...
