On the eve of the anniversary date of the assassination of Samuel Paty, all schools in France will pay tribute in different forms, Friday, October 15, to the history and geography teacher killed for showing caricatures of Muhammad in class.

A minute of silence, class debates, screening of documentaries on secularism ... "The establishments have the freedom to organize themselves. This could take the form of exchange, discussion. This is an opportunity to talk about the place of the teacher, of knowledge ", explained Thursday the Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer.

The commemoration of the assassination of Samuel Paty, one year ago, "is the occasion for a time of reflection and exchanges with the pupils. This time could notably take the form, from cycle 3 [CM1 , CM2, 6e] of a specific sequence on the construction of a critical mind, as well as on the profession of teacher, its role and its legitimacy ", according to the Eduscol site, which provides educational content to teachers.

The content of this hour of class will also depend "on the age of the pupils. For fairly young pupils, it will be more like: 'What is the teacher's place for you?'

(...) The older the student, the easier it is to talk about critical thinking, "says the ministry, stressing that" in general, it is from the first grade that we can do this kind of homage ".

"Total vigilance" during this tribute

On the other hand, Jean-Michel Blanquer has already warned: if these tributes were to be "disturbed", the students concerned will be "punished", he insisted at the microphone of RMC on Thursday.

The minister recalled that such sanctions must also have been applied last year, shortly after the assassination.

“Problems, there have been, but at least they are reported. They are also circumscribed. When you think of the tens of thousands of places where this has been done, it is obviously a very low percentage. 'is done, it is reported and sanctioned, "he added.

Already Wednesday, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin had called on the prefects to be "totally vigilant" during this tribute, and more particularly "in and around schools".

More institutional tributes

Tributes will also be numerous outside the school circle.

The great mosque of Paris told AFP that its rector and imams will gather on Friday morning in front of the college of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines) where Samuel Paty taught.

On Saturday, "in the very entrance of the Ministry of Education, a plaque that will forever pay homage to Samuel Paty will be unveiled. The Prime Minister will come, along with other members of the government, with Samuel's parents and family. Paty ", underlined Jean-Michel Blanquer.

The family will then be received in the afternoon at the Élysée by Emmanuel Macron.

At the same time, a Samuel-Paty square will also be inaugurated on Saturday opposite the Sorbonne, during a ceremony that the mayor of Paris wants simple and collected.

On October 16, 2020, history and geography professor Samuel Paty, 47, was stabbed and beheaded near his college in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine by Abdoullakh Anzorov, a Russian refugee of Chechen origin, killed shortly after by the police.

The young man of 18, radicalized, reproached him for having shown in class caricatures of Muhammad.

He had learned of the controversy surrounding the cartoons with a video on the Internet of Brahim Chnina, father of a schoolgirl.

The teenager, targeted by exclusion for indiscipline, had lied to her father: she had assured to have been sanctioned for having protested against Samuel Paty's request made to Muslim students, according to her, to report themselves during this course.

With AFP

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