Published on : 10/16/2022 – 13:04Modified: 10/16/2022 – 1:05 pm
Two years after the murder of Samuel Paty by a radicalized young man, the French Minister of Education Pap Ndiaye, on his way to the Sorbonne University, paid tribute to the professor of history and geography. The minister praised the “hope and consideration” that the teacher had for the young people.
The emotion is great. The Islamists “have not and will not be able” to “suppress intelligence and the very possibility of teaching”, said visibly moved Education Minister Pap Ndiaye, during a tribute on Saturday 15 October. At the Sorbonne Professor Samuel Paty was killed two years ago.
“Whether we knew him or not, we miss Samuel Paty, because we know that (…) the hope and consideration he had for young people are part of those forces that hold the Republic together, make it more tolerant” and “prepare the citizens of tomorrow “, added the minister during this ceremony organized in an amphitheater of the Sorbonne, where now a room bears his name, by the Association of History-Geography Teachers (APHG).
>> Also read: “Death of Samuel Paty: teacher protection strengthened, but still poorly applied”
“Two years later, the trauma is still there,” Pap Ndiaye said at the exit.
“To teach is to explain and not to be silent”
As for the gifts organized in schools, on Friday 14 or Monday 17 October, the minister was “happy that very few incidents were recorded on Friday”. “There are 18 nationwide, much less than last year”, he said, stressing that his ministry intended to show “firmness” in the face of incidents, but also “transparency”: “Let’s not put dust under the carpet”.
“To teach is to explain and not to remain silent”, declared Mickaëlle Paty, sister of the teacher, who dedicated her speech “to all the people who have died, injured, tortured or imprisoned for having dared to express themselves.”.
Three classes of middle school students, who worked during the 2021-2022 school year on the theme of freedom of expression, were awarded the first Samuel Paty Award, awarded by the APHG.
>> Also read: “Murder of Samuel Paty: a year later, confidences of students and teachers”
The winning class, from the Marie-Mauron college of Pertuis (Vaucluse), investigated past religious intolerance in their region, in the form of podcasts dedicated to the massacre of the “Vaudois du Lubéron” which caused some 3,000 Protestant victims in the 16th century. .And century.
For the 2And edition of the award, middle and high school students are invited to work this year on the theme “infox” and the danger they represent for democracy.
Samuel Paty, a 47-year-old professor of history and geography, was beheaded on October 16, 2020 near his college in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, west of Paris, by a radicalized young man who accused him of showing Muhammad caricatures to his students.
Earlier in the morning, Éric Zemmour, president of the far-right movement Reconquête !, gathered a few hundred supporters in Samuel Paty Square, near the Sorbonne, and described the assassination as an “avoidable Francocide”, the culmination of a “continuum of violence”.
With AFP
