Samara in Montpellier, Shemseddine in Viry-Châtillon… Dramas around schools have increased in recent weeks. This Thursday, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal went to the commune of Essonne to announce new measures to strengthen the authority of the teaching profession, in the face of students considered ever more violent. Here is what to remember from Gabriel Attal’s speech.
What you must remember :
– Gabriel Attal “gives himself eight weeks” to work on the consultation on youth violence, requested by Emmanuel Macron.
– Attal says he is in favor of sanctioning disruptive students on their diplomas.
– A doubling of civic education courses must take place next year.
– The Minister of Justice will “open the debate” to see if “attenuations” to the “minority excuse” are possible.
Gabriel Attal deplores an “addiction of some of our adolescents to violence”
Gabriel Attal denounced the “addiction of some of our adolescents to violence”, consequently calling for “a real burst of authority” to “reverse this form of spiral of the weakening of authority”.
“There are twice as many adolescents involved in assault and battery, four times more in drug trafficking, and seven times more in armed robberies than in the general population,” listed the Prime Minister from this city of Essonne was recently marked by the death of Shemseddine, 15, beaten near his college.
The Prime Minister “gives himself eight weeks” to complete the “collective work”
Gabriel Attal gave “eight weeks” to complete the “collective work” of consultation requested by President Emmanuel Macron on youth violence, with “a central milestone in four weeks”.
Among the first measures to attack “the evil at the root”, the Prime Minister indicated that all middle school students would be “in school every day of the week, between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.” because “during the day, the place is at school , to work and to learn. He insisted on parental responsibility, and affirmed that a commission would make proposals by the end of the month to regulate screen addiction.
The Prime Minister also addressed the issue of religion at school. “Today, let’s be frank, more and more often, the unrest or violence that we hear about at school has an identity or religious subtext. I tell you, there will be no war of religions at school, because at school, the only valid rule is secularism,” he said.
Attal wants to sanction disruptive students on their diplomas
Gabriel Attal said he was “in favor” on Thursday of students “who most seriously disrupt classes” being sanctioned “on their certificate, their CAP or their baccalaureate and that a note be placed on their Parcoursup file”.
The Prime Minister affirmed that “when we disrupt classes, when we challenge authority, when we degrade, when we threaten, or even when we attack, this must never remain without consequences”, specifying however that it was still necessary to work “on the exact contours of this measure”.
School of civics
During his speech, the head of government announced that from this year, 1,500 establishments will participate in learning times in primary school. Objective: work better on respect for others and tolerance. All students will also have a doubling, in the near future, of moral and civic education courses. Gabriel Attal notably asked the Minister of Education, Nicole Belloubet, to work to set up these courses from next year.
Students will also be required to stand up when a teacher enters the class. The head of government also wants students, from a very young age, to be able to participate in the common tasks of their establishment.
Towards the opening of a debate on “mitigations of the minority excuse”?
The Minister of Justice will “open the debate” to see if “attenuations” to the “minority excuse”, a principle which means that a minor is punished less severely than an adult, are “possible” and “desirable “, announced Gabriel Attal.
The minister will also consider setting up “an immediate appearance in court for young people from the age of 16” instead of 18.