The Minister of National Education wrote to rectors to remind them of order.
A 14 -year -old student, from Burkina Faso, was arrested by members of staff in full recess. It was just 10 a.m. when she was taken to an administrative building where gendarmes were waiting for her, who came to seek her in her school. Constraint to leave the college Paul Verlaine Dhe Maizières-lès-Metz, she was renewed on the Belgian border with her family.
By learning the facts, the Minister of National Education, Élisabeth Borne, sent by mail a “recall” intended for rectors by stressing that “the interventions of the police and gendarmerie for the procedures of distance are strictly prohibited in the school framework “. For its part, the rectorate of the Grand Est academic region and the Nancy-Metz Academy says that the two gendarmes of the Ennery brigade came to recover the student had “the agreement of his legal representatives” and respected ” a regulatory framework “. Information validated by the Ministry of the Interior, contacted by RMC.
However, the interventions of the police in a school are contrary to a circular in 2013, notes the minister in her email. It also points to the role of school heads, supposed to preserve a serene educational environment. According to Me Arnaud SOUTTALEAdvocate-advocate of the Loiret delegation, the latter can “give the minor only to the holder of parental authority, to people mandated by him or to police officers presenting a document of parents authorizing them”.
“Troubled” comrades
On this point, the professor of history geography Agnès Bragard emphasizes that thus “framed by gendarmes”, the mother was unable to “oppose” at their request. “It was not an informed decision,” she concluded on France 3 Grand Est. The middle school students were not spared from such an intervention. “Monday morning, some students asked questions, it troubled them a lot. They asked if it was normal, if it could happen to them. The school is supposed to shelter children from external pressures,” continues the ‘teacher. This argument is that taken up by the Minister of National Education. The former Prime Minister wanted to clarify things and his message is ultimately not intended for his services but also for the services of the Ministry of the Interior.
The former tenant of Matignon knows that this intervention in school for an obligation to leave French territory (Oqtf) is linked to the “security” objectives pursued by the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau. For the Border -free education network (RESF), “This is an additional illustration of the brutality in force since the Macron presidency”.
After the arrest, the middle school was taken to the border, accompanied by her mother and her little brother, but “without being able to take the slightest personal effect”. According to information from France 3 Grand Est, the family came to take refuge in Europe following the last coup in Burkina Faso. “Imprisoned for political reasons”, the father stayed in his country of origin. The authorities criticize the student’s mother for having applied for asylum simultaneously in Belgium and France.