REPORTAGE – The Yvelines departmental council approved the change of name of the school near which the teacher was murdered four years ago.
The Hautes-Rayes college, the Montaigne college and the Samuel-Paty college. Since this Friday, these are the names of the three colleges in the town of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines). Four years after the assassination of Samuel Paty by an Islamist terrorist, the Bois-d’Aulne college was renamed after the history and geography professor. A decision initiated during a board of directors of the educational establishment on September 23, approved by the municipal council of Conflans on September 30 and ratified by the departmental council of Yvelines on October 18.
On Friday October 16, 2020, shortly before 5 p.m., Samuel Paty left Bois-d’Aulne college to return home. A few hundred meters from the establishment, in a street in Eragny-sur-Oise, Abdoullakh Anzorov, an Islamist terrorist, savagely stabbed the teacher several times, then beheaded him. The attacker is then killed by the police. The attack arouses immense emotion throughout France. “Every tragedy is cruel but this one stands out because it attacks the very soul of the Nation”underlines Pierre Bédier, the president of the Yvelines departmental council.
In the days following the tragedy, Pierre Bédier proposed renaming the college. A wish also expressed by the family of the murdered teacher. But faced with reluctance from part of the educational community, the project was postponed. It resurfaces at the start of the school year in September 2024. “The educational community wanted to wait until the students attending Bois-d’Aulne at the time of the incident had left the establishment. This is the case now”underlines the rectorate of Versailles. On September 23, the college’s board of directors gave a favorable opinion on a name change.
Vote by acclamation
A week later, the municipal council of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine met in the village hall and voted unanimously in favor of the name change. “My opinion is that today, time has passed, allowed everyone to overcome the trauma and it is now our duty to honor the memory of Samuel Paty.underlines the mayor (Horizons!) of Conflans, Laurent Brosse.
This October 18, it is the turn of the Yvelines departmental council to decide. “By naming the Bois-d’Aulne college Samuel-Paty college, we will embody the ideal of France, this republican hope of progress through knowledge, by giving it the face of a humble, devoted, passionate man: the face of Samuel Paty »declares the president of the departmental council, Pierre Bédier, in front of the members of the council, the rector of the Versailles academy and several members of the Bois-d’Aulne educational community.
Standing and applauding, the 42 members of the council then unanimously adopted the deliberation: “the Bois-d’Aulne college will henceforth be called Samuel-Paty”concludes Pierre Bédier. “It’s an emotional moment for the rector but also for the former history and geography professor that I am”reacts Etienne Champion, rector of the Versailles academy. “The memory of Samuel Paty is very deeply anchored in all of us; the fact that his college takes his name is a very strong commitment.” A ceremony will be organized later to make this name change effective.
