"We're at Blaise-Cendrars; of course we don't have ceilings in our toilets," says a student from a high school in Sevran in the northeastern Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis, in a video that has gone viral on TikTok. Students and teachers used the one-minute-and-a-half video to paint an alarming picture of their school: water leaks in classrooms, no heating, a lack of tables and chairs.

"We wanted to do this video to showcase what we experience every day at school, but also expose the teaching conditions throughout the '9-3' [the postal code for the Seine-Saint-Denis department]," explained a high schooler. "Most of us grew up here, so we're no longer shocked by the building's condition... the lack of teachers, not having functional toilets, we've become used to it." Priya Bhavsar, a former student of the same high school, agreed: "It saddens me to see that we're forced to rally to get the bare minimum, like classrooms where we're not afraid that the ceiling will fall on our heads."

The four teachers who took part in the video received a warning for not having "respected their duty of discretion," local education authorities told Agence France-Presse on Friday, March 15. Around a hundred people attended a demonstration in support of the teachers on the same day.

The video, which was produced a week ago and viewed more than 2.7 million times on TikTok, was posted at the same time as Seine-Saint-Denis teachers have been rallying since February 26 to demand an emergency plan from the government, with one part earmarked for school buildings. According to figures from the teachers' unions in Seine-Saint-Denis, over half of the department's middle schools are poorly insulated, and 30% of schools are infested with pests.

High school buildings are the responsibility of the region. Meanwhile, middle school buildings fall to the responsibility of the department, and primary schools come under the auspices of communes. Stéphane Troussel, the Socialist president of the departmental council, claimed that "the idea that the majority of middle schools are in a dilapidated condition is false. I deplore these groundless accusations which, by generalizing situations, contributes even more to devaluing public schools in the '9-3.'"

"I'm not denying the existence of these specific cases, but it's not a widespread problem," added Radouane M'Hamdi, a high school principal and representative of the local principals' union.

Protesting teachers, however, see the situation differently. A photo exhibition presented on March 6 in front of the greater France regional council shone a light on the poor condition of dozens of schools, including Georges-Braque middle school in Neuilly-sur-Marne, east of Paris. Camille Vallois, a union representative, reported that some windows could no longer close and some classrooms suffered from poor insulation.

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