Ministry of National Education (France)

The Ministry of National Education and Youth, or simply Ministry of National Education, as the title has changed several times in the course of the Fifth Republic, is the cabinet member in the Government of France who oversees the country's public educational system and supervises agreements and authorisations for private teaching organisations.

The ministry's headquarters is located in the 18th century Hôtel de Rochechouart on the Rue de Grenelle in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. As education is France's largest employment domain, the ministry directs the work of more than half of the state civil servants. The position is therefore traditionally a strategic one.

On 11 January 2024, with the installation of the Attal government, the ministry changed its name to Ministère de l'Éducation nationale, de la Jeunesse, des Sports et des Jeux Olympiques et Paralympiques (Ministry of National Education, Youth, Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games). During the second cabinet reshuffle of February 2024, and owing to a controversy involving Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, the ministry was divided into two: Oudéa-Castéra kept the Ministry of Sports and Olympic and Paralympic Games title, while the Ministry of Education was assigned to Nicole Belloubet.

History
A governmental position overseeing public education was first created in France in 1802. Following the various regime changes in France in the first decades of the 19th century, the position changed official status and name a number of times before the position of Minister of Public Instruction was created in 1828. For much of its history, the position was combined with that of Minister of Public Worship, who dealt with issues related to the Roman Catholic Church, except in instances where the Minister of Public Instruction was a Protestant. The position has also occasionally been combined with Minister of Sports and Minister of Youth Affairs. In 1932, the office's title was changed to Minister of National Education, although it was briefly changed back in 1940–1941, and was renamed Minister of Education during the presidency of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (1974–1981). In 1975, it created the Comité d'études sur les formations d'ingénieurs which studies the training and job placement of engineers in France.