the essential
A sports teacher, who pointed out to one of her students that her outfit was not correct for class, was slapped in a high school in Montreuil in Seine-Saint-Denis. The teacher filed a complaint against the student.
A high school girl who slaps her sports teacher. In Montreuil in Seine-Saint-Denis at the Jean-Jaurès high school, a student reacted with violence to her teacher's remark. Tuesday afternoon, the class goes to the Montreuil stadium. A student wears an outfit “with religious connotations”. The teacher points out that the outfit is “inappropriate”, indicates the Créteil rectorate. The student then spits on the PE teacher and slaps her.
The school sent the student home as a precautionary measure. She will not be able to set foot in her high school again while waiting for a disciplinary council next week. The head of the establishment accompanied the teacher to file a complaint at the police station. Since the altercation, the teacher has been off work.
The Créteil rectorate, which specifies that the religious outfit was not an abaya, will cover the legal costs.
Anne Genetet calls for “very firm sanctions”
This violent episode, which touches on the highly sensitive issue of secularism in schools, provokes numerous reactions. “Slapping a teacher, attacking a teacher is absolutely unacceptable,” declared Minister of National Education Anne Genetet on BFMTV. She recalls that the teacher only applied the internal regulations and asks for “very firm sanctions” against the high school student.
“We do not compromise with secularism and we stand together with our teachers,” declares PCF senator from Hauts-de-Seine Pierre Ouzoulias on X.
Support for this teacher from the Jean Jaurès high school, slapped by a student after asking her to remove her abaya, in accordance with the 2004 law.
We do not compromise with secularism and we stand together with our teachers.
It is a Republican duty.https://t.co/uEeMkyAib9
— Pierre Ouzoulias (@OuzouliasP) https://twitter.com/OuzouliasP/status/1854774769897394668?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
“Enough is enough. Immediate exclusion and legal action”, reacts on X the president of the Île-de-France region Valérie Pécresse, who calls for “zero tolerance for any attack on a teacher”.
Enough is enough. Immediate exclusion and prosecution https://t.co/WIX9yqDiIR demands an exemplary sanction against the student who insulted, spat in the face and slapped his teacher in Montreuil. I call for zero tolerance for any attacks on teachers! https://t.co/VOMUwuZWjx
— Valérie Pécresse (@vpecresse) https://twitter.com/vpecresse/status/1854796231169470669?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Religious symbols at school: what the law says
In public schools, colleges and high schools, the wearing of signs or outfits by which students ostensibly demonstrate religious affiliation is prohibited. The internal regulations recall that the implementation of a disciplinary procedure is preceded by a dialogue with the student, indicates the law of March 15, 2004.
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