France experienced a weekend of shocks as weeks‑long high school student protests for better study environments were hijacked by violent looters across major cities, angered by rising fuel prices and an ongoing cost of living crisis.
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In the Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development’s (OECD) last Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report published last month, France has only 9.8 per cent of top performers – those who reached level 5 or 6 – in science, reading or mathematics, compared to 55.5 per cent for mainland China, covering students from Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
“It shows that in terms of people that are top performers, that in theory will have the best jobs will have the capacity to innovate, the proportion is decreasing [for France] every PISA cycle … now action should be taken,” said Eric Charbonnier, an education analyst at the OECD.
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