Nantes (AFP) – The cost of repairs to the Nelson Mandela high school in Nantes, whose entrance hall was destroyed by a fire, is “at least two million euros”, the Pays de la Loire region announced on Friday.

Published on: 02/10/2026 - 18:34

Due to the damage, the establishment, whose hall is "completely destroyed", will remain closed "until the All Saints' Day holidays" and classes will be provided "remotely", the region had clarified a little earlier.

She also decided to “advance by several weeks” the distribution of laptops to all second-year students, in order to “facilitate access” to distance learning lessons.

The day after the impressive fire which set the entrance to the high school ablaze, "the first estimates show a restoration cost of at least two million euros", said the region in a press release.

Expertise will be carried out next week "in order to establish a more precise diagnosis, in particular on the state of the framework which was damaged by the fire", specified the community.

Several high schools in Nantes are also closed until Tuesday inclusive, for security reasons, according to the same source.

Across the region, the cost of repair work on degraded high schools amounts to "at least three million euros", the region estimated on Friday. Twelve high schools "suffered significant damage", she said, including the Paul-Émile Victor high school in Avrillé (Maine-et-Loire), where an administrative building was notably "ransacked then set on fire".

Around a hundred students from Nelson Mandela High School gathered on Friday in a public park near the establishment.

In a joint speech, around a banner and a portrait of the former anti-apartheid figure, the students expressed their dismay and dissociated themselves from the violent actions, noted AFP.

“Distancing classes will reinforce the inequalities that we are fighting against,” lamented Lily, 17, in her final year of general education. “I am a little shocked and angry at the fact that we only talk about our high school when there is violence. This discredits our cause,” she lamented.

Face-to-face classes will not be able to resume in this establishment until at least the beginning of November.

“It’s not the same thing to be at home and not see our teachers live to ask them questions. We wonder how we’re going to keep up,” says Célestine, 16, in 1st grade. She is worried “about the baccalaureate at the end of the year”.

A philosophy professor, who did not wish to give his name, said he was “in the dark” about the implementation of distance learning courses. “What is certain is that this will penalize the most vulnerable students,” he stressed.

For Alain Patron, 68 years old and father of a final year student at Mandela, “what happened is something to cry about”. “Hooded and masked young people set fire to one, then two, then three trash cans and it happened very quickly (...) We had the impression of an organized commando,” he describes. “It’s distressing to see that the peaceful movement was overwhelmed by violence.”

“A high school on fire, places of education targeted, these are failures, in a democracy that wants to be + adult +”, declared the PS mayor of Nantes Johanna Rolland in a press release. “For us it’s unbearable,” she denounced.

Located on the island of Nantes, the Nelson Mandela comprehensive public high school welcomes more than 1,700 pupils and students, according to its website.

© 2026 AFP

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