Mayotte begins school year with unfinished schools two years after cyclone

Around 120,000 schoolchildren in Mayotte, a French overseas department in the Indian Ocean, started the new academic year in incompletely restored schools, nearly two years after the devastating Cyclone Chido, Report informs, citing French media.

According to local authorities, the cyclone destroyed approximately 40% of the island's educational institutions, with repair work still unfinished in a number of schools.

According to Ambdilwahedou Soumaila, the Mayor of Mamoudzou, the capital, repairs need to be completed in several schools that sustained €12.000 million in damage from the cyclone.

Administrative hurdles in securing state funding have slowed progress across various municipalities, he noted.

Parents of students at one school held a protest demanding that restoration work be accelerated. Due to a shortage of facilities, classes have been running in shifts since 2025, with each child receiving only about three and a half hours of instruction per day, according to parents.

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu is scheduled to visit Mayotte on August 26–27. Local authorities expect him to announce new decisions regarding funding and speeding up reconstruction.

Cyclone Chido struck Mayotte in December 2024, causing widespread damage to the island's infrastructure.