A 15-year-old high school student, so far uneventful, stabbed a teacher in the throat on Tuesday in his establishment in Caen, whose life is not in danger, according to the prosecution and the Minister of National Education. “This morning around 11:15 a.m. a student from Lycée Malherbe, during an interclass, stabbed a teacher of the establishment, in charge of his class. The teacher was hit in the throat but his life is not in danger. She is taken care of for suturing the wound”, according to a press release from the Caen prosecutor’s office released at midday.
A student “so far without stories”
“The police custody continues. It is a student so far without stories. The gesture remains unexplained. A psychiatric examination is scheduled” Wednesday, added at the end of the day the public prosecutor of Caen Amélie Cladière in a second press release. Lycée Malherbe is a reputedly quiet establishment, close to the center of Caen, which has 2,100 students, preparatory classes included. “Witnesses have not reported an altercation or any incident between this student and this teacher since the beginning of the year,” adds the prosecution.
According to Bertrand Buffetti, academic secretary of SNES Normandy, “he is a second-year student in high school but who did not have this teacher” as a teacher. According to him, the victim is an “aggregate teacher, at the end of her career”. Such an attack, “it’s something extremely rare in general but, in the Caen conurbation and a fortiori in the Lycée Malherbe, it’s something that leaves us a little amazed”, a added Bertrand Buffetti.
A rigorous teacher in her work
The high school students interviewed by AFP in front of the establishment were no less so and expressed their empathy for this teacher, “good teacher”, whom they describe as rigorous in her work. “I was in the few rooms that were next to (the place where the attack took place, editor’s note), the police came in armed to ask if there was an intruder. That’s how ‘we knew,’ told AFP Léa, a first-grade student, testifying to her “fear” and her “shock” at the time.
“For the seconds, who arrived in high school two weeks ago, the image they will have of high school all their lives is horrible,” she also lamented. All the high school students interviewed by AFP said the victim was with a second class at the time of the attack. “It was a shock. There were teachers and students crying” on the school grounds, added Emma, 17, a little further.
Classes suspended Wednesday morning from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
Following this “serious incident”, classes will be suspended Wednesday morning, from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., according to the school’s website. Traveling to Sables-d’Olonne, the Minister of National Education Pap Ndiaye said that he was going to go to Lycée Malherbe “as soon as possible in the days to come”.
“I learned with great emotion of the aggression of which a literature teacher was the victim at Malherbe de Caen high school today. Of course, I would like to express all my sympathy, all my empathy. And beyond ( …) to also express my empathy with regard to the entire educational community of Lycée Malherbe”. The minister “reaffirms his solidarity and his support for all teachers and recalls that no threat or aggression, physical or verbal against them can be tolerated”, he added in a press release at the end of the day.