Jean-Baptiste Marty / Photo credits: Ronan Houssin / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP 06:45, February 8, 2024, modified at 06:51, February 8, 2024

While the theme of secularism within National Education is omnipresent in the discourse of political leaders, educational establishments in Val-d'Oise are strongly impacted by the withdrawal of identity. According to information from Europe 1, Intelligence is concerned about the increase in Islamized speech and practices as well as anti-Semitic acts committed by students.

It is a phenomenon which continues to grow in educational establishments in France and in particular in one department, Val-d'Oise. According to information from Europe 1, attacks on secularism in schools, middle schools and high schools in this Ile-de-France department have increased in recent months to the point of worrying Intelligence. 56 schools in the department have been the subject of incidents since last October.

Islamized discourses and practices

Within these educational establishments in Val-d'Oise, religious discourses and practices linked to Islam are increasing. Several directors have recently been confronted with various incidents such as at the Croix Duny nursery school in Argenteuil where, on October 10, a third of the students' parents withdrew their children from class before a school trip. They refused to allow their daughters to sleep anywhere other than in the family home.

Another incident reported last November, this time at the Fragonard high school in Isle Adam: to a teacher's question: "How would you like to die?", three students responded: "As a martyr".

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Numerous anti-Semitic acts

Establishments are also strongly affected by anti-Semitic acts. Intelligence reports “religious otherness targeting Jews”. Several tags hostile to Israel were discovered in various middle and high schools in the Ile-de-France department. Swastikas were drawn three times on the walls of the Jean-Jacques Rousseau high school located in Sarcelles. Two students from the Camille Saint-Saens high school, in Deuille-La-Barre, copied swastikas on their notebooks last November.

Anti-Semitic acts which have increased since "the Hamas terrorist attack perpetrated in Israel on October 7" according to Intelligence, which refers to the Republican school as now being a favored target of students with strict religious practices. Behavior considered worrying which could harm their future integration into French society.