requests have exploded since the death of Samuel Paty

Being under functional protection means having the benefit of a lawyer, being accompanied to file a complaint, and being supported psychologically, with very regular monitoring of the situation by the rectorate, in conjunction with the police services if the situation requires it. Since the death in 2020 of the history and geography professor, Samuel Paty, and faced with the increase in attacks targeting the teaching staff, these requests for functional protection have exploded by 123%.

More than 5,000 requests in 2023

They reached more than 5,000 requests in 2023, a year in which they jumped 30% compared to 2022. These figures come from a recent report published in September by the Ministry of National Education. They prove that the system is better known and understood by teachers. This protection is, moreover, granted more than before – in three-quarters of cases. But the support that follows is not always effective or responsive everywhere in the same way.

“Since Samuel Paty, there has been a total change”

Vincent Loustau is director of a nursery school classified REP + (editor’s note: reinforced priority education network), in a sensitive district of Montereau in Seine-et-Marne, and federal secretary within the CFDT Education Training Research Publics. He requested this functional protection twice in his career, before and after the death of Samuel Paty, and he felt a difference in treatment between these two situations by his hierarchy.

“A dozen years ago, a relative attacked me and verbally threatened me,” he says. “He uttered insults, was vulgar, and put his fist in my face,” explains the director. “My direct supervisor did not come to my school and did not even take the trouble to call me even to show his moral support,” laments Vincent Loustau.

“While for the second attack of which I was the victim, in 2021, by a man who pointed his knife at me, we immediately had the police who were present, the inspector came to the school , human resources managers from the academy asked us how we were doing, if we wanted to stop… We were well surrounded so clearly, since Samuel Paty, there has been a total change of attitude”, explains- he.

Closer work with the police and automatic protection

Layla Ben Chikh, principal of a REP establishment in the Nice academy, and member of the management staff union SNPDEN benefited from this protection last month, after being threatened by a father in front of her college. But for her, the system remains imperfect. “The rectorate should work more closely with the police to ensure a preventive presence around establishments, it is really necessary,” she says. “We cannot manage the street, check at the same time that there is no danger outside and ensure the reception of students inside,” continues the principal.

“Moreover, this functional protection must be automatic: it is not up to staff to request it, it should be possible to assign it directly as soon as a teacher or head of establishment is attacked or threatened,” adds Layla Ben Chikh. The situation often requires an urgent response. But the average response times are very long: around one month per request sent.