Five years after the death of French history and geography teacher Samuel Paty, beheaded by a Chechen Islamist, "the shock is still raw", according to Paty's sister. The sentiments of pain and fear are shared by many teachers across France, who say they lack the resources to deal with violence in schools.
On 16 October 2020, 47-year-old Paty was stabbed and then beheaded by Abdoullakh Anzorov, an 18-year-old Russian refugee of Chechen origin. Police shot him dead shortly after the attack.
Paty had shown caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed during a lesson on freedom of expression. But false claims spread online that he had forced Muslim students to leave the room before showing the images.
The attack took place near the middle school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, a suburb north of Paris where Paty taught.
Tributes have taken place across France this week to honour Paty, whose death shocked the country.
A park in Éragny-sur-Oise, where Paty liked to walk, was renamed after him on Sunday. In March, the school where he worked was also given his name.
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'Anger not over'
Paty’s sister, Gaëlle, said in an interview with AFP that the shock has not faded.
“The wounds have not healed, the anger is not over,” she said. The feeling was only “slightly softened” after the trial in 2024.
Eight people were convicted last year for their roles in Paty’s murder, including the father of a schoolgirl who falsely claimed her teacher had made Muslim students leave the room – even though she had not attended the class.
Gaëlle Paty welcomed the verdict but warned that the “digital cabal” that led to her brother’s death “could happen again”.
In her new book A Trial for the Future, co-written with a historian and a cartoonist, she reflects on the trial and the motivations of the accused. Four of them plan to appeal in 2026.
“We have talked a lot about Islamism, but particularly about Chechen Islamism, which is relatively unknown in France,” she wrote.
"What I took away from this was that these young people found themselves stuck between the Western culture they were taught at school and the rigorous Chechen culture."
Five years on, teachers say they feel more exposed than ever.
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Fear in classrooms
“There is clearly a before and after Samuel Paty,” said Jean-Remi Girard, president of the teachers’ union Snalc. Teachers are now “aware that the profession is exposed, and that a rumour or a social media post can spiral very fast”.
A string of recent attacks has deepened that fear.
In September, a music teacher in Bas-Rhin was injured in a knife attack by a student.
In June, a school supervisor was stabbed to death in Nogent, a Paris suburb, by a 14-year-old boy during a police bag check. In April, a high school student in Nantes killed a 15-year-old girl and injured three others.
The government has banned knife sales to minors, but teachers and unions say not enough is being done to support school mental health, which has worsened since the Covid pandemic.
“The state clearly needs more resources,” said Christine Guimonnet, a history and geography teacher in Pontoise. That means “fewer students per class so we can take care of them properly”.
Endemic violence
Like many teachers Guimonnet remembers Samuel Paty.
"There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about Samuel Paty. We've been feeling anger since Samuel's assassination, and it hasn't subsided," she said.
"We don't do this job to be attacked, injured, or murdered."
A report by the Senate inquiry commission published in March 2024 highlighted other forms of violence that are now commonplace.
“Insults, threats, pressure and assaults are now daily realities for teachers and staff,” wrote Senators Francois-Noel Buffet and Laurent Lafon. They said such violence exists in all areas, rich and poor, urban and rural.
Researcher Johanna Dagorn from the International Observatory of Violence in Schools told France Inter there has been no overall increase in violent acts, but there is more “paroxysmal violence” – sudden outbursts that lead to “much more serious acts”.
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Growing self-censorship
Fear of being targeted has also led some teachers to censor themselves, said Jerome Fournier, national secretary of the SE-Unsa union.
“Before, there was a kind of innocence; we didn’t ask so many questions. Now, we think twice. We think about the consequences of a lesson,” he told France Info.
Since Paty’s murder, requests for protection by school staff have surged. Any public employee who faces threats can ask for security support from their administration.
In 2024, 79 percent of these requests were granted, according to figures from the Ministry of Education.
On Tuesday, schools across France held a minute of silence in memory of Paty and Dominique Bernard, a 57-year-old French teacher murdered in 2023 in Arras by one of his former students, who was listed for Islamist radicalisation.
But Gaëlle Paty said these moments are “too improvised, without real educational support,” and feel like an “obligation” for teachers and students.
She wants schools to replace minutes of silence with discussions and collective projects.
"I would like teachers to leave their classrooms, for there to be collective projects within schools between management, teaching staff and even families, so that these subjects become less emotional," she said.
