A school stabbing at a secondary school in southern France left a veteran art teacher critically injured and renewed concerns over student violence in classrooms. Authorities confirmed a 14-year-old student stabbed the teacher multiple times Tuesday at La Guicharde secondary school in Sanary-sur-Mer. Prosecutors emphasized that investigators have found no ideological motive behind the attack.
The 60-year-old teacher suffered at least three stab wounds and remained in critical condition following the school stabbing, according to Toulon public prosecutor Raphael Balland. The student was arrested at the scene and taken into custody on suspicion of attempted murder. Officials said the suspect acted alone.
Balland told reporters there were no known “religious or political connotations” connected to the attack. He added, “All we know is that there had been tensions with this teacher recently, and that he was angry with her.” Authorities continue to examine the student’s background and recent interactions at the school.
France’s education minister, Edouard Geffray, traveled to the school shortly after the incident. “My thoughts immediately go out to the victim, her family and the entire educational community, whose deep shock I share,” Geffray wrote on X. Presidential aides said President Emmanuel Macron was kept informed of the teacher’s condition.
The school stabbing follows a series of violent incidents in French schools over recent years. In June of last year, a 14-year-old boy was charged with murdering a teaching assistant during a bag search in Nogent. In April, another student killed a classmate and wounded several others in Nantes.
