In France, police will now conduct random bag searches in schools to prevent knife attacks

French police will start scouring pupils’ bags for knives and other weapons at and around schools in an attempt to rein in violent attacks, the country’s education minister announced Friday (February 21).

The random, spot searches will start in the spring, Elisabeth Borne was quoted as saying by BFMTV/RMC broadcaster. “I want us to be able to organise, together with the prefect, the prosecutor and the representative of the education system, regular bag searches at the entrance of schools,” she said.

The minister added that police would be deployed to search the bags as school staffers are prohibited from doing so.

Stabbing spree in France schools

The French minister said the spot search step had become necessary owing to the increased number of stabbings at school premises.

In case if a bladed weapon, knife or any weapon is recovered from the student’s bag, they will have to appear before a disciplinary council. For that to happen, the minister still needs to work out the necessary rule changes.

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Any such discovery would also trigger a notification of prosecutors, without exception. As of now, the decision to involve prosecutors depends at the discretion of school administration.

According to media reports, a 17-year-old student was critically injured in a stabbing incident at his school in Bagneux, a southwestern suburb of Paris, at the start of this month.

Moreover, in Seine-Saint-Denis region, around 20 middle and high schools were placed under police surveillance following an increase in violent attacks. Authorities said about 100 police personnel have been deployed at these schools to “prevent a repetition of violent acts”.

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October 2023 school attack

In 2023, France had mobilised up to 7,000 soldiers to ramp up security around schools after a former student fatally stabbed a teacher and left three others wounded. The president’s office had called the attack a result of Islamic radicalisation.

The French government had also heightened the national threat alert. The incident came as a chilling reminder of the killing of another teacher, Samuel Paty, near his Paris area school in 2020.

According to French authorities, the war in Gaza may have prompted the October 2023 school attacker to launch brutal attack on the victims.

(With inputs from agencies)