New safety drive for every school

SCHOOLS across the country will bring in better measures to improve pupils' and teachers' safety by the end of the academic year, Education Minister Luc Chatel has announced.

Each of France's 8,000 collèges and lycées will have its own security team, made up of school staff and gendarmes whose job is to prevent conflicts and take action if violence breaks out.

The équipes mobiles de sécurité were introduced on a trial basis in 19 high-risk schools in Parisian estates last September. Chatel said they would be extended nationwide by the end of March.1

The groups' first job will be to carry out a full security check of the school and make recommendations by the end of June on what needs to be tightened up.

Security measures will be adapted depending on how at-risk the school is considered to be. They could include more police at the school gate, better perimeter fencing or CCTV.

Teaching staff and school heads will be given additional training by the end of this year on dealing with trouble.

In a small number of cases - 1% or 2% according to Le Figaro - Chatel has recommended metal detectors at the entrance, although this measure has yet to be given the all-clear by the government.

The announcement comes two weeks after a lycéen in the Paris suburb of Le Kremlin-Bicêtre died after he was stabbed by a fellow pupil on school premises.

Chatel has promised an update on how the project is proceeding in April.
Photo Jonas Roux