The murder of Professor Dominique Bernard has aligned with the third anniversary of the beheading of Professor Samuel Paty, prompting a debate among French educators about keeping schools secure without turning them into fortresses. The discussion follows a recent attack by a former pupil on a jihadist rampage at a northern Arras institute, and a surge in false bomb alarms across schools and institutes since the start of September, now surpassing three hundred incidents.
“This reminds me of the Paty tragedy,” recalls Christophe Naudin, a history and geography teacher at an institute near Paris who survived the Bataclan attack and speaks to EL PERIÓDICO of the Prensa Ibérica group. In the early months of 2020, Emmanuel Macron’s government faced a wave of hostile international discourse about France, and after Bernard’s killing the administration prioritized schooling and knowledge transfer as central to resisting reactionary currents, a stance echoed by officials in the autumn period.
“All centers have had safety protocols in place since 2015,” notes Minister of Education Gabriel Attal, but adds that more may be needed to keep schools respected and safe. In the wake of the Arras incident, authorities announced the deployment of 1,000 security officers in front of training centers, with a total of 60,000 personnel citywide. They also increased street patrols from 3,000 to 7,000, and the neighboring country raised its anti-terrorism alert to the highest level.
face recognition
France’s education system is decentralized, with classroom security largely funded and implemented by municipal and regional governments. While schools no longer resemble open streets, some regions have invested heavily in security infrastructure. Laurent Wauquiez, president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, has overseen about 110 million euros in investments since 2016 to deploy alarms, cameras and related devices, and he has proposed installing facial recognition at high school entrances to identify individuals monitored for potential radicalization. This push has sparked debate about effectiveness and civil liberties rather than enthusiasm among teachers.
Educators warn that political posturing does little to address deeper concerns. Marie Hélène Plard, a co-secretary of the departmental FSU SNUipp, stresses that doors and alarms still fail in places and that more fundamental problems remain unsolved in Seine-Saint-Denis, a northern Paris suburb with high poverty. She notes that budgets and practical maintenance often take priority over flashy new measures.
“Incredible requests”
“Last week I witnessed some mind-boggling security requests,” says Plard, who leads a school in Île-Saint-Denis. She describes how administrators questioned the presence of metal detectors or cameras, while many teachers simply want working systems they can rely on. For her, the Arras attack changed nothing about her approach to schooling; parents still appreciated the ability to pick up their children as usual.
Naudin adds that turning schools into fortresses could backfire by making students feel uncomfortable. This week his school began revising procedures, including backpack checks to deter dangerous objects. From a security standpoint, he argues for balancing vigilance with ethical and economic realities, and he criticizes the gap between grand speeches from politicians and day-to-day realities faced by teachers and students.
False bomb warnings
Despite education’s central role in French civic life, insecurity has left a mark on the profession. In the 1980s a young secondary teacher earned about 2.2 times the minimum wage; today the ratio sits around 1.2. Plard notes that social prestige for teachers has diminished, which some attribute to broader social tensions and economic pressures. In February, Bernard, Paty and a Spanish teacher were killed in the south of France in incidents linked to students facing psychological issues.
“Schools are not immune to violence from wider society; they resemble a ticking bomb,” says Natalia Ruiz, a Spanish high school teacher in Saint-Denis. The atmosphere reflects a broader, fractured French society where far-right currents and educational concerns converge. The return to school saw debates around the wearing of the abaya, a traditional garment in several Muslim-majority countries, with the administration arguing the measure simplifies classroom management while some students of Muslim origin feel marginalized by it.
Vision of aggressive secularism
Plard laments a highly aggressive secularism that targets schools, noting that the abaya controversy sits alongside a surge of bomb alarm false-positives. From early September through October, counts of false alarms rose sharply, and numbers have surpassed 300 in recent weeks. Most incidents involve minors with notable computer skills, sometimes seen as a competitive move from the darker corners of the web. One teacher recounts daily evacuations as bomb alerts echo through the campus, a routine that drains morale and complicates teaching.
Ruiz describes the classroom as a fragile space where the social fabric frays under pressure from external threats. The country continues to grapple with how to maintain an inclusive environment while implementing security protocols that feel justified and not punitive, all within a culture that values education as a public good.