• By Alice Haston

An Man Met student caught up in the French school riots has not been able to attend university because of protests which have rocked the country.

Lois Oliver is attending university abroad studying French and linguistics and has been unable to attend lessons while violent protests continue.

Protests have taken France by storm over the past few weeks, with university and high school students protesting over staff shortages, broken-down school facilities and the banning of phones in schools.

Since the protests have begun in France, some demonstrations have turned violent, with 215 students and 85 staff members hurt and a further 715 police officers injured.

Lois is studying at the University of Perpignan Via Domitia in France and has described to NQ the impact the protests have had on her year of study abroad.

Lois described how the protests have stopped her from attending university.

“I am feeling a bit in limbo as I feel guilty being around the protest.

But then I feel like if I participate then I’m kind of like a fraud because I’m not French,” said Lois.

Lois is worried that if the demonstrations continue, it will impact her education further, stating: “We do so much in these classes, everything is face to face so it’s not online, so I can’t catch up.”

One of Lois’s friends, who is a resident in France, has warned her that the protests are set to continue for the next two weeks, with the next demonstration planned for Saturday (17 October).

Lois says she has not had any communication from her university about when her studies will continue. She says the university has issued guidance to students on safety and locked the university buildings.

During Lois’ time in France, she has noticed the differences between English and French educational settings, with some of the facilities in France she described as “kind of falling apart”.

“One of the reasons there are protests is the underfunding in education, as the buildings are really run down. We don’t use any technology at all,” said Lois.

One of Lois’ friends who is protesting because of the poor facilities told her that during one of her lectures rain started pouring into a amphitheatre room at the university due to a broken ceiling.

Lois said many students were also protesting over the rising cost of university fees going up.

“They are complaining about 200 euros for a year and I’m paying £10,000 for the year, which is increasing each year and this is why I’m feeling angry because the government is increasing our fees every single year and nobody is doing anything about it.

“The French and English universities are like two different sides of the spectrum – a middle ground would be great,” said Lois.

Lois feels inspired by the protest she has witnessed in France and feels students in England should make their voices heard if fees are raised further.

“The whole thing is inspiring me a lot because I think it’s making me reflect on the university system in England, which I personally think is way worse than France and students in England don’t say anything about it.

Young people, I don’t think, are ever taken seriously,” said Lois.

The French education minister, Edouard Geffray promised in a TV interview that 3,000 extra supply teachers would be recruited for the nation’s school system.