French 2027 presidential candidate Gabriel Attal called for a dramatic electroshock in national education during a television interview on Tuesday, August 25. Speaking to journalist Darius Rochebin on news channel LCI, the former education minister outlined a sweeping plan to restore academic standards across French schools.
Attal addressed growing concerns over French students slipping in international PISA rankings, which measure scholastic performance worldwide. He acknowledged that an eighth grade student today performs at the level of a seventh grade student from 30 years ago, adding that nearly one third of children entering middle school cannot read, write, or count properly. He attributed the decline to a breakdown in institutional expectations.
To fix the system, the candidate for the centrist Renaissance party argued that France must give schools long term political and financial stability. He criticized the frequent turnover in leadership, noting that seven education ministers have held office in four years, including his own tenure from July 2023 to January 2024. He proposed appointing the Minister of National Education as the number two official in government and keeping them in the post for a full five year presidential term.
Teacher pay and demographic shifts
Attal promised a five year education programming law to establish clear funding commitments. He noted that over the past 30 years, pension spending in France rose by 20 percent while education and research funding fell by 15 percent, arguing that the nation is sacrificing its future for the present. Pointing to demographic forecasts showing a drop of more than one million students in coming years, he urged government leaders to reinvest savings into lower class sizes rather than budget cuts.
The former prime minister proposed using those resources to raise salaries across the teaching profession. Under his plan, every teacher would receive a monthly net raise of at least 200 euros. Mid career teachers, whom he identified as the group most penalized by current pay scales, would receive increases of up to 500 euros net per month.
Stricter exams and gateway classes
Addressing student performance, Attal recalled his previous decision as education minister to return grade repetition authority to teaching teams. He called for higher standards across all national examinations and proposed restoring the primary school certificate, a historic national exam officially abolished in 1989. Under his proposal, students entering sixth grade would be tested on basic competencies.
Children who meet the standard would move straight into middle school, while those who fall short would attend a dedicated one year gateway class to catch up. Attal also proposed making the brevet des collèges, the diploma taken at the end of middle school, mandatory for entry into high school. Students who fail the diploma would complete a one year preparation class before advancing.
Closure of failing middle schools
In his most radical proposal, Attal called for closing 100 middle schools that he described as educational ghettos. He stated that these schools concentrate severe academic difficulty and poverty. Closing them would allow authorities to redistribute students among surrounding schools, encouraging social mixing and helping all pupils progress.
Presidential race dynamics
Turning to politics, Attal asserted that recent polling justified his decision to run for president under the banner of Renaissance, the party founded by President Emmanuel Macron. Citing a Harris Interactive and Toluna poll published on Monday for M6 and RTL, he declared that there is no longer a clear favorite within the central political bloc.
Attal highlighted that his primary centrist rival, former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe, had lost three percentage points in one month. He stated that the latest survey shows momentum resting solely with opposition leaders Marine Le Pen of the National Rally and Jean-Luc Mélenchon of France Unbowed, leaving the rest of the political field open.
