Bag checks, security cameras and gates do not resolve the issue of violence at French schools, teachers’ union representatives told Euroneuz after the 14-year-old student was said to have stabbed a teaching assistant in the town of the northeastern town.
The boy stabbed the 31-year-old assistant several times Tuesday during a bag check at the Françoise Dort School in Nogent near Dijon, local authorities said.
Authorities said the officer involved in the check suffered minor injuries when the student was arrested. According to the Haute-Mannes department, the student is currently being questioned by police. No motivation has been established yet.
“We are deeply saddened. The whole community is in mourning, and the whole country is in mourning,” said Maxime Reppert, vice president of National Secondary Schools and Higher Education (SNALC).
“Beyond sadness, there’s digging and anger, because unfortunately, this isn’t the first time that blood has flowed in school,” he told Euroneus.
Fatal incidents at French schools are rare, but concerns about violence on campus have risen. The government introduced bagchecks and vowed “stronger deterrence and harsher penalties” after the 17-year-old was fatally stabbed outside the university during a conflict between rival gangs in the Esonne sector in March.
Between late March and late May, 6,000 checks were seized and 186 knives were arrested, with 32 people arrested, according to the French Ministry of Education.
However, Reppert says, “We are not addressing the issue of youth violence at random searches, cameras or gates,” focusing instead on youth mental health and education for students’ families.
“I’m sure schools can’t do it all. They need to take their families more responsibility and help parents who need it,” he added.
The government pledges to act
Repert also said French authorities should not allow suspects to use “excuses” in cases of young people’s violence.
“We believe that a 15-year-old man who commits a crime with a weapon should be punished. He knows what he is doing at that age,” he said.
“We need to hold youth more accountable, we need to restore authority, adult authority, teacher authority,” the union members added.
Following the fatal stab wounds in Norgent, French President Emmanuel Macron wrote to X that his teaching assistant was “a victim of a meaningless wave of violence.”
“The state is in mourning and the government is mobilized to reduce crime,” he said.
Prime Minister François Bailloux told lawmakers Tuesday that the government is “to move towards experimenting with security gates at the entrance to the school.”
“We remain indifferent and cannot see this moving wave with our arms down,” he said.
Regional prosecutor Dennis Devarova said the suspect in the fatal stab wound on Tuesday had no police records. French Minister of Education Elizabeth Bourne said the boy was a student representative for the school’s anti-bullying program and was temporarily suspended earlier this year to disrupt classes.
