However, it is difficult to objectivize the importance of the religious, conspiratorial or political pressures that teachers would be subjected to to the point – sometimes – of self-censorship and avoiding certain subjects in class. This is one of the reasons why the Minister of Education Valérie Glatigny (MR) decided to tackle this problem, she explains to The Free.
“The government will ban official teachers from wearing convictional symbols”
A recurrence of facts
“A series of alerts have worried me in recent months. A biology professor brought to my attention the feelings of a collective, that of the Universalists. She reported to me the fact that a young boy is hiding the eyes in biology class so as not to see the reproduction of a naked female body, that a young girl refuses to go to swimming class, or that students question the theory of evolution Another teacher was. questioned in its legitimacy because it was a woman, without forgetting that teachers say they no longer address various themes, such as the history of Belgium and decolonization, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, because they would suffer a series of intimidations.
Since the start of the school year, the minister has also broadened the scope of the “Oui-École” toll-free number. From now on, teachers can testify in particular about the pressures they would experience. “Since the start of the school year, six calls have confirmed the existence of worrying facts: a young boy who refuses to sit next to a girl, another who watches beheading videos, a third who spreads conspiracy theories…” The same goes for mobile support teams who travel at the request of schools and who work to prevent violent extremism and radicalism. “They have carried out six interventions since the beginning of September. It’s not trivial.”
Radicalization of students worries in schools: “Teaching has become dangerous”
These figures do not demonstrate an explosion of facts, but a recurrence of them in recent years. “In 2021, moreover, Ocam, the Coordinating Body for threat analysis, mentioned an increase in the violent radicalization of young people.the minister further argues. It is in this sense that at the end of September, it sent a questionnaire to 13,000 teachers asking them about the respect they receive – or not – in their classes. A question was devoted to the intimidation exercised against them and the self-censorship that could result from it.
“On this point, the feelings of teachers are quite worrying. This figure has no scientific pretension, but of the 10,000 responses received, seven teachers out of ten admitted to having already censored themselves.” Was it linked to religious, conspiratorial or political pressure? The investigation does not say so. “It nevertheless caught our attention. I don’t want to cause psychosis, but I told myself that we could no longer deny this situation. Fortunately, all the experts tell us, it is possible to act. And what we have to do is break the silence.”
-The French model
To “break the silence”, Minister Glatigny intends to recall the standard in force in schools: the principle of neutrality enshrined in the Constitution. “School is not a place where we propagate opinions, where we proselytize, whether religious or political.”
“I would then point out that teachers represent the State. They therefore benefit from special protection. Violence exercised against them results in an aggravation of the sentence.”
“Finally, because they are not well enough known, I remind you that there are tools so that teachers can confidently report pressure and warning signals. Mobile intervention teams can be called upon, and Reports can be sent to the public prosecutor’s office, the local police, or the youth assistance service.”
“There are, however, shortcomings, and we therefore wish to take three actions. We intend to organize a round table with the organizing authorities, teachers, parents, Ocam… to carry out awareness-raising work.”
After meeting Anne Genetet, Minister of Education in France, a country which experienced the murder of two teachers (Samuel Paty and Dominique Bernard), Valéry Glatigny will draw inspiration from what she calls “French model”. In the future, each establishment should appoint a “police referent”and each police station “school referent”. These two contacts could very quickly come into contact to ensure, in an emergency, the protection of a teacher who would be put in danger.
Finally, via the inspection, the minister intends to launch annual reports on respect for neutrality in schools. “If we want to break the silence surrounding this issue, such annual reports are important. They could be debated in Parliament, would make it possible to objectify the situation in schools and would be a management tool for us.”
