The number of pupils in French primary schools (students aged 3 to 10) fell by 106,900 children in a year at the start of the school year (-1.7%) and recorded a decrease also in secondary education (11 to 18 years), reflecting the fall in births in France, a report published today pointed out.

“At the start of the 2025 school year, 6.155 million students were enrolled in public and private primary schools, a number reduced by 106,900 students” in one year, according to a study by the Department of Statistical Research (Depp) of the French Ministry of Education.

The decline is more noticeable in primary school (6 to 10 years) than in kindergarten (3 to five years), the research clarifies.

In secondary education, 5.621 million students were enrolled at the start of the 2025 school year, i.e. 14,700 fewer students compared to the previous year (-0.3%).

This decline comes mainly from secondary school (11 to 15 years) where student numbers are falling “due to the effects of demographic decline”.

In Lyceum (16 to 18 years old), “a demographic impact leads, on the contrary, to an increase in the number of students,” as the 2010 generation, “more numerous compared to previous ones,” enters Lyceum, Depp points out.

France’s new education minister, Edouard Geoffre, said yesterday that the draft budget for 2026 envisages about 4,000 teacher job cuts linked to population decline.