PARIS – A tragic incident occurred on Tuesday when a 14-year-old student fatally stabbed a French middle school employee while bags were being checked at a school in eastern France. The student has since been taken into custody.
An officer assisting with the bag checks sustained minor injuries during the arrests, reportedly being harmed by the same knife the student used on school staff, according to the Gendarme Service.
The investigation is centered on the Françoise Dort School located in Nogent, which is north of Dijon in Burgundy.
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his condolences, stating, “While she was caring for our children, our education assistant lost her life to pointless violence,” in a post on X.
Fatal incidents of this nature have been uncommon in France, yet there is a growing unease regarding school violence.
In an effort to combat this issue, the Ministry of Education introduced bag checks at various schools this year. During checks conducted over two months this spring, a total of 186 knives were confiscated, and 32 individuals were detained, the Home Minister reported.
Regional prosecutor Dennis Devarova confirmed that the student involved had no prior police records.
Education Minister Elizabeth Borne mentioned that the juvenile was serving as a student representative for the school’s anti-bullying initiative and had faced a temporary suspension earlier this year due to class disruptions.
During the incident, officers were conducting bag checks outside the school, with school staff present, when the stabbing occurred, as per the Gendarme Service.
Classes were canceled for the day, and prosecutors indicated that psychological support is being offered to both students and staff.
This follows a recent incident in April where a high school student stabbed four peers at another school in western France, resulting in one death and three injuries, before being apprehended. This prompted the Prime Minister to call for tighter measures against knife violence in educational settings.
