16-year-old Camille Hasbani reports on a recent spate of stabbings in French schools
On Tuesday 10 June, a female teaching assistant died after being stabbed by a 14-year-old student during bag checks outside a school in Nogent, north-east France. The male suspect was arrested. French president Emmanuel Macron condemned this “senseless wave of violence”, saying: “The nation is in mourning and the government is mobilised to reduce crime.”
This event is only one of many similar attacks in France since the Covid pandemic in 2020. According to the French Ministry of Education, 30% of pupils reported experiencing at least one incident of violence at school in 2022/23. Students are committing violence against other students and also members of staff. The motives for these incidents are very broad, including bullying, racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, homophobia and political differences.
Harbingers’ Weekly Brief
Written by teenagers for teenagers, delivered every Friday afternoon to your inbox, with what’s best from the world’s youngest newsroom and its publisher, the Oxford School for the Future of Journalism
![author_bio]()
![author_bio]()
These violent crimes are disturbing – and happening more frequently. Two months earlier, in April, a 15-year-old student at a private high school in Nantes stabbed four of his peers, killing a teenage girl and injuring the others.
In October 2023, a teacher from Arras was stabbed and killed, and two others injured, by an individual known to police services for adhering to extreme Islamist groups of Chechen origin. The attacker was a former pupil at the school.
In October 2020, the murder of Samuel Paty,a teacher in a secondary school in Paris shocked the country. He was beheaded with a cleaver by a radicalised 18-year-old Chechen refugee. The perpetrator was shot by police officers minutes later.
Government officials spokeafter the stabbing in Nantes, not only to offer condolences to those impacted but also to alert the country to the significance of this attack. Minister of the interior Bruno Retailleau warned that the event was “not a news item, but a societal issue”, referring to the growth of violence within school walls. Prime minister Francois Bayrou said that the attack “illustrates once more the endemic violence existing in a part of our youth”.
These statements underline the rising problem of violence in schools in France. Establishments have started implementing random checks on school bags. Others are doing prevention teachings and creating safe spaces for students to talk about issues of violence. The aim of these spaces is to create a dialogue with young people and prevent this sort of attack before it happens.
In 2024, the government allocated 150 million eurosto improving school safety measures. This includes the deployment of security forces on school grounds.
Ask for help
If you are in France, these are the numbers to contact for assistance. If you suspect someone in your surroundings could hurt themselves or others, call the police on 17 (or 112, which works across Europe). If you are having homicidal or suicidal thoughts, call 3114. If you are aged between 12 and 25 and searching for professional help (psychological, legal, health-related, social services), call 0 800 235 236.
Edited by:
© 2025 The Oxford School for the Future of Journalism