“The image of teachers is damaged”: students from Racine d’Alès college sign their brochure “Don’t touch my school”

Olivia, Liam, Niouvia, Marie, Emma and Annaëlle… Six of the young authors of “Touche pas à mon école”. Free Midi – Alexis BETHUNE

This Saturday, June 8, some of the 3rd grade students of the establishment signed their brochure, the fruit of their testimony work supervised by their history/geography teacher Gilles Roumieux, following the assassinations by Samuel Paty and Dominique Bernard.

They are installed like any author who would come to sign his latest work. Except that for Marie, Olivia, Emma, ​​Annaëlle, Niouvia and Liam, to name only the first group involved in this event, this meeting with the readers is a first.

This Saturday, June 8, some of the 3rd grade students from the Jean-Racine d’Alès college took turns to present to the customers of several bookstores "Touche pas à mon school", brochure of testimonies on the defense of the school and its teachers in the face of extremism, in tribute to the murdered teachers Samuel Paty and Dominique Bernard. In Sauramps in the morning, then in the Au Bonheur des gens bookstore in the afternoon.

For young people, and for their teachers

The meeting is, almost, the conclusion of a long work carried out in recent months with their history/geography teacher, Gilles Roumieux. Following the death of Dominique Bernard in Arras, the professor relaunched this work of testimonies that he had already undertaken with previous promotions. The brochures "Hands off my teacher" or even "Don’t touch democracy", had brought together initial testimonies from students.

For this latest collection, the students were able, at the end of May, to meet Mickaëlle Paty. Samuel Paty's sister signs the preface to this brochure. "It’was a chance to meet her", believes Olivia, one of the students present this Saturday 8  June. "We quickly saw that Mickaëlle Paty does not put everyone in the same basket."

Also read: Mickaëlle Paty: “the Islamist entryism that is plaguing our schools is pushing our teachers to censorship”

And it was during this meeting, then when signing their work today, that the group of teenagers admitted to realizing the importance of their involvement. "At the time we didn’not realize, testifies Marie, another student. But then we saw what it could really be used for." "We understood that we were not the only ones affected by these tragedies", adds Olivia.

The adolescents thus leave with an experience of citizenship that they hope to be able to share with as many people as possible, in high school and then in their adult life. First for teachers: "The image of teachers is damaged by these tragedies, even though they are the ones whose mission is to awaken us to the world ." Then for the students: "We saw that many in the college had nothing to do of the death of these teachers", young Liam laments. An indifference that the group still sees today in their establishment.