Alexandre Portier present for the tribute to Samuel Paty and Dominique Bernard this Monday in Lyon

Alexandre Portier, Minister Delegate in charge of Academic Success and Vocational Education. (Photo IAN LANGSDON / AFP)

On October 16, 2020, Samuel Paty, professor of history and geography in a college in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, in Yvelines, was murdered by a young 18-year-old Russian of Chechen origin. Three years later, on October 13, 2023, Dominique Bernard, associate professor of modern literature, was also killed by an Islamist within the Gambetta-Carnot school group in Arras, in Pas-de-Calais. Two Islamist attacks which deeply affected the teaching profession and highlighted its importance in the face of Islamist terrorism.

Monday October 14, a national tribute will be held throughout France to remember these two teachers “died in the exercise of their profession and for the values ​​that their memory continues to embody”underline the state services. On this occasion, the Minister for Academic Success and Vocational Education, Alexandre Portier, will go to the Lycée Doctor Charles Mérieux, in the 7th arrondissement of Lyon, to participate in this tribute. A minute of silence will be observed in schools in the Rhône and France.

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