Teenage student stabs teaching assistant to death at French school

A 31-year-old school assistant was fatally stabbed on Tuesday morning during a routine bag check outside Françoise Dolto Middle School in Nogent, eastern France. The attacker, a 14-year-old student, was immediately detained and is currently in police custody at the local gendarmerie, according to the Haute-Marne Prefecture.

The incident occurred during school entry procedures, in the presence of law enforcement. One police officer assisting with the bag inspection was slightly injured while subduing the suspect. Authorities confirmed that the student had no prior criminal record and came from a stable household. The motive remains under investigation, according to France 24 news agency.

President Emmanuel Macron strongly condemned the act, calling it part of a “senseless wave of violence” affecting French society. “While she was caring for our children in Nogent, an educational assistant lost her life — a victim of senseless violence,” he said in a post on X.

The victim, a former hairdresser and mother of a young boy, had joined the school staff in September. Education Minister Élisabeth Borne, who visited the scene, noted that the school community is reeling from the shock. “The students are devastated, especially by the fact that their well-integrated classmate committed such a horrific act,” she said.

French lawmakers observed a minute of silence in parliament, and Prime Minister François Bayrou warned that the tragedy reflected a deeper societal breakdown. “This is not an isolated case,” he said, pointing to the broader rise in youth violence.

France has witnessed a troubling increase in school-related stabbings. In April, a student in Nantes fatally stabbed a girl and injured several others. Government data released earlier this year shows a 15% rise in reports of bladed weapons in schools. From late March to late May, 6,000 school searches resulted in the confiscation of 186 knives.

Unions and officials are now calling for tougher security measures. Elisabeth Allain-Moreno, secretary general of the SE-UNSA teachers’ union, emphasized the need for preventive strategies.

“This tragedy shows that complete safety is an illusion—we must focus on prevention,” she said.
Jean-Rémi Girard, head of the National Union of Secondary Schools, stressed the limits of vigilance: “We can’t treat every student as a threat. It’s not sustainable.”

Meanwhile, far-right politician Marine Le Pen criticized the government’s response, blaming it for normalizing extreme violence. “Not a week goes by without a tragedy in our schools,” she wrote on X. “The French people are demanding a strong, decisive response to this scourge of juvenile violence.”

In the wake of recent attacks, Prime Minister Bayrou reiterated his call for piloting metal detectors in schools and tightening knife regulations, including banning more types of blades that are currently legal.