Candidate to baccalaureate at just 8

The youngest candidate for the general and technological baccalaureate in France in 2025 has a new record in the history of this exam that marks the completion of the high school, the Ministry of National Education announced on Friday, AFP reports.

This student, with the age for the primary school, is registered an independent candidate at the baccalaureate session, which begins on June 16 with the philosophy exam, said the ministry, which did not reveal more information about the identity of this candidate.

Last year, the youngest candidate, a student at the Strasbourg Academy (east of France), was nine years old, a previous record for the baccalaureate. In 2023, the youngest candidate was 12 years old.

‘These are really very special cases. Each time, it is a student from a whole cohort, so it is an exception, « said Caroline Pascal, general manager for school education, during a press conference.

For this 2025 edition of the baccalaureate, which brings together 724,633 candidates, the oldest registered is 78 years old, the ministry said.

The baccalaureate was established by a decree on March 17, 1808, and its first edition, in the form of exclusively oral exams, took place in 1809.