France: 9-year-old brought knives to school in V…

Three round-tipped table knives were found in the schoolbag of a 9-year-old student during a surprise bag inspection at the Jules Ferry primary school in Vendôme, Loir-et-Cher, on Monday.

As reported by Europe 1, the child is said to have told the teaching team that he had “planned with two of his classmates to kill their teacher.”

The teaching team carried out the search as part of a broader security response following recent violent incidents in schools across France.

The Blois prosecutor’s office confirmed the discovery, and said the knives were found in the bag of a CE2 (third-grade) student.

The prosecutor ruled out criminal prosecution, citing the child’s age and the fact that no attempt had been made.

“There was no act or attempt, and the knives were round-tipped,” the prosecutor told Le Figaro. The parents of the child will be interviewed, and a social assessment will be carried out by child protection services in the Loir-et-Cher department. The teachers involved have indicated they may pursue legal action.

The inspection at the school followed the killing of a 17-year-old in front of a high school in Essonne in March, and the murder of a 31-year-old teaching assistant in Haute-Marne earlier this month. Such incidents have prompted an increase in bag checks and other preventive measures in schools.

The discovery in Vendôme comes amid a series of similar cases. In December 2023, a 12-year-old schoolgirl of Mongolian origin in Rennes brought a knife to school and threatened her English teacher. She was restrained by staff and later taken into custody. Witnesses said she had previously made comments referencing the killing of teacher Dominique Bernard in Arras in October.

In another incident in June last year, an unaccompanied migrant minor was arrested in La Tour, Alpes-Maritimes, after stabbing a teacher and attempting to set fire to his reception center.

The mayor of Marignane, Éric le Dissès, called last year for primary school teachers to be equipped with tear gas grenades and personal alarms, citing what he described as an increasing risk of violence in schools.

“Providing them with defense spray is the least we can do in the short term. One in two teachers has already asked me to be equipped with one,” he said.