That's the hope of the Calvados Education Inspector (inspecteur d'académie) , Jean-Charles Huchet.
Huchet has created a "bonus-malus" system to reward schools that don't force students to redo years and to punish schools that do.
Union representatives charge that reducing repeat years is just a way of reducing jobs,which the Inspector denies.
("La mesure n'a pas d'incidence sur les emplois. Ce n'est pas une mesure budgétaire. Je ne l'ai pas prise pour faire des économies. Je n'économise rien, je redistribue." )
Education Minister Luc Chatel says there are no plans to generalize the "bonus-malus" system, although he would like to see a reduction in the number of schoolchildren forced to repeat a year.
According to Eurydice study commissioned by the European Union, France has the highest rate of repeat years in Europe.