• On the eve of the anniversary date of the assassination of Samuel Paty, all schools in France were invited this Friday to pay tribute to the history and geography teacher, killed for showing caricatures of Muhammad in class.

  • The teaching teams could decide on the content of this tribute.

  • Hence the wide variety of initiatives: minutes of silence, drawings, readings of texts, debates ...

His black and white portrait was posted everywhere this Friday. All schools in France were invited to pay tribute this Friday to Samuel Paty, this history and geography teacher, killed for showing caricatures of Muhammad in class.

Minute of silence, class debates, screening of documentaries on secularism ... The teaching teams were free to decide on the content of this tribute, which could "take the form of exchange, discussion", according to the Minister of Education national, Jean-Michel Blanquer.

"By naming [Samuel Paty] rooms, schools, establishments, by doing ceremonies like this, we show those who want to terrorize us, those who want to play with fear against freedom, that we will play against fear, with freedom, ”the minister said on Friday.

A brainstorming session on the teaching profession in Pau

Despite the non-compulsory nature of this tribute, the teaching teams were there on Friday. "There is a desire on the part of teachers to want to pay him a dignified tribute," explains Sophie Vénétitay, general secretary of Snes-FSU, the first secondary school union. “The college students went down in silence to the forum with the teachers, then the principal asked for a minute of silence. That the students respected, ”says Angeline, who responded to our call for witnesses.

In many establishments, this day was an opportunity to redo the pedagogy around the principles of freedom of expression and secularism.

At the Campigny college in Blangy-sur-Bresle (Seine-Maritime), for example, the minute's silence was followed by a reading of Robert Badinter's speech on secularism.

At the Jeanne-d'Albret college in Pau (Pyrenees), a brainstorming session on the profession of teacher, the notion of freedom and what it underlies, was organized.

One

from U2 echoed in the yard

Many tributes have been made in music. At the Lycée Jean-de-La-Fontaine in Paris, a choir of students sang a song called

La ballade pour Samuel

in the auditorium, in the presence of the Minister of Education. At the Trois-Vallées college in Salies-du-Salat (Haute-Garonne), the song 

One

by U2 was broadcast. It had resonated a year ago in the courtyard of the Sorbonne, during the national homage which had been paid to Samuel Paty. After a minute of silence, the music teacher at this college and some students performed

from Stevie Wonder's

Free

.

Some original initiatives were also greeted on Twitter, such as that of the college of Plaine-de-Neauphle in Trappes (Yvelines), where students honored the memory of Samuel Paty by planting a ginkgo-biloba, symbol of unity and 'hope.

Or that of the Jean-Baptiste-Poquelin college, where students drew secular trees in memory of the murdered professor.

And in many establishments, rooms have been renamed.

At the Gustave-Monod high school in Enghien-les-Bains (Val-d'Oise), teachers and elected officials unveiled a plaque in memory of Samuel Paty in a room that will now bear his name.

At the Cosne-d'Allier college (Allier), the CDI was renamed after the murdered professor.

A way to remember him every day.

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  • Assassination of Samuel Paty

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