The 52-year-old teacher was stabbed to death by a student on Wednesday (age 22) in a high school classroom in Saint-Jean-de-Luz in southwestern France. According to the prosecutor in charge of the case, the alleged aggressor is 16 years old and has been arrested. The victim taught Spanish.
According to local media, the suspect stated that he was “possessed” and that he heard voices. “Right now, nothing points to a terrorist trail. It is obvious that the offender has psychological disorders, ”a source close to the case told AFP.
The crime took place in the morning at the Catholic Institute of Saint-Thomas d’Aquin, which has about 1,100 students.
“I saw him in front of the teacher. He was very calm. He approached her and, without saying anything, stuck a large knife in her chest,” said 16-year-old Ines, leaving the scene.
According to the student, the rest of the class ran away when another student opened the door. “We didn’t know what to do. The student opened the door and we all went out. I ran away from the institute and my friend’s father came for me, I didn’t feel safe at school, ”she added.
The student made a reservation: “I don’t really know this boy, we’re just in the same Spanish class, but there’s never been a problem between him and the teacher in the class,” she said.
Students in other classrooms were locked up for about two hours before leaving the school at noon, according to an AFP correspondent.
difficult working conditions
The most recent murder of a teacher while working in France was the murder of history teacher Samuel Paty on October 16, 2020 in the Paris region.
The professional was beheaded by a Russian refugee student of Chechen origin, a radical Islamist, who scolded him for showing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in class.
The cases were not isolated. In the past 40 years, fewer than 12 attacks on teachers have been fatal. In July 2014, a 34-year-old teacher was stabbed to death by a student’s mother at a school in Albi (south).
Teacher’s death sparks social media outcry
Education Minister Pap Ndiaye traveled to Saint-Jean-de-Luz, where he will hold a press conference.
On Twitter, the politician referred to the “big commotion” caused by the murder of this teacher, and wrote that his thoughts are with “her family, her colleagues and students.”
The French government has shown its “support” for the grieving educational class through its spokesman, Olivier Véran.
MP Sandrine Rousseau, on the other hand, sent a message of solidarity to the victim’s relatives and “national education workers facing increasingly difficult working conditions.”
Teachers are “at the forefront of an increasingly violent society,” tweeted Eric Ciotti, president of the right-wing Os Republicanos, and called for “a review of the grading of juvenile sentences.”
Source: Ndmais
