France keeps brevet exam on Friday despite heatwave, announces all future exams will be morning-only

France will press ahead with the national middle-school diploma (brevet) this Friday despite a prolonged heatwave, Édouard Geffray, the education minister, announced on Wednesday. The French written exam, which kicks off the diplôme national du brevet (DNB), is maintained because it takes place in the morning, and a set of heat-related accommodations will be applied in exam centres.

Exam day adjustments

Centre supervisors may grant two 15‑minute pauses between the three parts of the test, Geffray said. The usual ban on toilet visits during the first section is lifted, and students will be spread out: instead of the standard 30 candidates per room, rooms will hold only 10 to 15. "On n'est pas dans une configuration habituelle où vous avez 30 élèves côte à côte," the minister told reporters, stressing that spacing reduces discomfort.

Around 10,300 candidates out of 120,000 to 130,000 sitting the baccalauréat have already had their oral tests rescheduled this week, either to a morning slot, a later afternoon, or the start of next week. Those shifts affected the Grand oral, anticipated French orals, and vocational bac exams.

Union criticism

Teacher unions swiftly condemned maintaining the exam. The Snalc union called it "une décision dangereuse" (a dangerous decision) that posed "risque maximal pour les candidats, comme pour les collègues." Elisabeth Allain-Moreno of SE-Unsa predicted the relaxed toilet rule would create "un bazar sans fin" (endless chaos). Sophie Vénétitay of Snes-FSU noted that neither postponement nor maintenance was fully satisfactory: delaying would extend the calendar with uncertain weather and grading conditions, while going ahead meant difficult conditions. In 2019, then-minister Jean-Michel Blanquer had postponed the entire brevet under similar heat.

Heatwave context

France is under a red heatwave alert for a fourth consecutive day on Wednesday, affecting over 40 million people. The episode is now judged comparable to the emblematic 2003 heatwave and is expected to last several more days across Europe.

Long-term shift: morning-only exams

Geffray announced a structural overhaul starting from the next school year: all exams, written and oral, will be held exclusively in the morning. "Il faut qu'on repense très clairement l'organisation des examens pour tout mettre le matin," he said. The calendar will be published in advance so families know both the dates and the heat-adapted schedule.

To bridge the gap until school buildings are thermally renovated, the minister advocated buying large numbers of portable air-conditioning units. These will "gérer la transition entre un bâtiment non isolé et un bâtiment qui dans un an ou deux ans le sera." He also acknowledged the architectural challenge: the classic "Ferry" school design from the early 20th century favoured large south-facing windows to compensate for poor heating, a logic now completely reversed. Retrofitting, he said, will require "des investissements assez substantiels" (substantial investments).