France, Nov. 11 -- "There's a massive hole in our classroom," says Marianne Gerbet, 19, who is in her second year of a literary classe preparatoire - intensive programmes to prepare students for the entrance exams for France's most prestigious universities - at Helene Boucher high school in Paris.

With winter approaching, she fears it will become increasingly difficult to study. "How are you supposed to sit a mock exam when water is falling on your paper?" she asks.

The situation in poorer working-class neighbourhoods is far worse, she says, with "ceilings collapsing, rain coming through the roofs... rats running round your feet".

As at hundreds of high schools across France in recent weeks, Marianne and her fellow students have been b...