France wants to expel “radicalized” students from schools

Expel radical students from schools. This is the new mandate announced by Education Minister Gabriel Attal on the evening of October 19, after the minister attended the morning funeral of the professor who was killed and, according to witnesses, stabbed by a former student in the town of Arras. While shouting ‘Allah Akbar’. Following renewed tensions in the Middle East, the Elysée is also grappling with a wave of bomb threats involving both educational institutions and symbolic buildings such as the Louvre and the Palace of Versailles. For some time now, educational institutions have been at the center of control measures aimed at defending secularism; First, the veil is banned, and then the abaya, a long traditional dress that leaves only the face and hands exposed, is introduced. These are measures that some elements of the trans-Alpine community consider discriminatory against the Muslim community. Removing “radicalized” students can be even more problematic because it requires understanding the criteria for identifying them and what will happen to these young people, who are often underage. Meanwhile, in a multicultural and complex society whose bodies are increasingly becoming the target of angry and desperate attacks from confused young people, teachers are on the front lines, often left alone in difficult educational tasks.

Threats of deportation

Regarding students considered “radicalized”, Minister Attal told France 2 channel, “Together with my colleagues from Home Affairs and Justice, I will work on measures that will allow us to remove them from our schools.” Attal, head of the ministry, stated that the measure would come into effect if school staff “report students who, in their opinion, are a potential threat (…) due to comments they have made or actions they have taken.” “The principle of protection that I want to apply to all our students and staff means that we have to find a solution other than sending them to school,” the minister added. Regarding what will happen to young people excluded from schools, the head of the Ministry of Education said: “We must think about specialized structures that can accept them,” adding that he will take “all necessary precautionary exclusion measures.” Expulsion will be a precaution last resortIt will be accepted only after other disciplinary procedures initiated after contacting prosecutors have been accepted. “In the most serious cases, I asked the school principals to suspend these students from school as a precaution without waiting for the disciplinary board,” Attal said.

Teachers under attack

France was shaken last week by the brutal murder of teacher Dominique Bernard, who was stabbed to death in front of his school by a former student of Chechen origin. The young man, aged around 20, who allegedly shouted “Allah Akbar”, was arrested by the police. The slain professor, at the age of 57, was awarded the Legion of Honor, the Transalpine Republic’s highest honor. French President Emmanuel Macron, who attended the teacher’s funeral in Arras in northern France with his wife Brigitte, said, “He was the first to intervene and saved many lives” on the day of the attack. In October 2020, another teacher, 47-year-old Samuel Paty, was beheaded by an 18-year-old Russian-Chechen Islamist. The professor is in the classroom during a lecture dedicated to freedom of expression. He had become a target of extremists for displaying satirical cartoons depicting Muhammad. The online “hate campaign” against the teacher was launched by a student’s father, based on false claims about what the teacher said in class.

Already a thousand little children are being watched

Introducing the measure to expel students, which is currently under review by the government, Attal noted that in some cases the pressure for radicalization occurs “within the family or in associations revolving around it.” The minister thus extended young people’s responsibilities to larger social groups, implying that they were not “lone wolves” but young people involved in a broader context of radicalization. Speaking to BfmTv earlier in the evening, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin reported that he had detected “more than 1,000 minors with active forms of Islamism.” Darmanin later stated that some of it was because one of the family members was already being privately monitored. The minister added that the number of potentially radicalized minors, regardless of family members, was “probably” several dozen.

The perpetrators of the bomb scare should be punished

Another sign of concern for the Elysée concerns the number of “incidents” detected during the moment of silence during the Dominique Bernard and Samuel Paty memorial service in secondary and high schools on 16 October. According to the Minister for Education, “just over 500 incidents” were reported by schools, highlighting a lack of respect and sensitivity towards the two victims. There are also fake bomb threats against educational institutions. Attal said he listed 75 on Thursday, October 19 alone. In total, 299 have been reported since the start of the school year. The reaction against those who raise these alarms is very harsh. “We have already arrested students aged 11, 12, 13, 14 or 15 and some adults,” the minister added. While some may find the institutions’ response to what is considered a “hoax” exaggerated, the minister reminded that “in the current context, it is students and education professionals for whom this is extremely traumatic.” Stating that the hearings of the arrested students will be held in the next few days, Attal assured that “punishments will be given” and reminded that the maximum penalty for this crime is three years in prison and a fine of 50 thousand euros.

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