Nearly 400 incidents relating to the praising of terrorism or provocations relating to terrorism have been reported in schools across France from November 4th to the 30th.
The French Ministry of National Education reported 393 such incidents, stating that most were related to provocations, protests, or apologies for terrorism.
From the death of 47-year-old history and geography teacher Samuel Paty — who was beheaded on October 16th in the street by a Chechen refugee after showing his class cartoons of the Islamic prophet Mohammed — to November 3rd, 400 incidents were also reported, 20 Minutes reports.
Of the total number of incidents, 90 per cent of the cases involved pupils and the rest involved the parents of pupils and even staff, with 286 reports made to the police and 136 to French prosecutors.
Nearly half of the incidents, 48 per cent, took place at middle schools, 18 per cent at high schools, and 11 per cent at vocational colleges. While 23 per cent, nearly a quarter, occurred at primary schools.
According to 20 Minutes, 44 pupils have been expelled, 131 given temporary suspensions, four have been reprimanded, and 48 have been given warnings.
The General Inspectorate of Education also noted that schools have reacted well to incidents within the classroom setting, but have not been as vigilant on monitoring students’ social media statements.
The report noted that social media played a large part in spreading information about Paty after he had shown the Mohammed cartoons to his class.
The father of a pupil at Paty’s school, Brahim Chninam, launched a social media campaign against the teacher and was even found to have been in direct contact with the Chechen refugee before the terror attack.
Police took Chninam, along with his Islamist ally Abdelhakim Sefrioui, into custody following the murder.
The Ministry of National Education report supports claims by a French judicial source last month who stated that the number of threats against teachers and other public figures was “exploding” following the killing of Paty.