PARIS - TEACHERS across France went on strike on Thursday to protest against plans to cut thousands of jobs in the education system, but the government vowed to press on with reforms it says are needed to cut costs.

Some 70 per cent of teachers are expected to join the strike, which has also reopened controversy over recent measures that will oblige local authorities to provide alternative care arrangements for children by school assistants or other staff.

Education Minister Xavier Darcos, who has been overseeing the government's schools reform drive, said on Thursday he 'heard' the teachers but he said entrenched attitudes by teachers' unions had to change.

More than 735,000 teachers work in French state schools but they have long complained that government cuts have added to their workload and made classrooms more difficult to manage.

As part of a wider drive to trim the French public service, some 13,500 education jobs are due to disappear next year. The government is also planning a series of timetabling and organisational changes Mr Darcos says will improve performance and better prepare pupils for final baccalaureate examinations.

But unions say the government's main aim is to cut costs at the expense of teachers and pupils.

Mr Darcos brushed off union criticisms and said the reforms would remain on track.

'Teachers deserve better than to have unions whose main function is to organise resistance to change,' he told France's RTL radio. 'I think we have to continue with the reform.' He also dismissed complaints by some local authorities controlled by the opposition Socialists that they did not have the means to provide alternative care to children whose parents were at work.

'That's a joke because all the authorities controlled by the right can manage it,' he said. -- REUTERS