A quiet school day in southern France turned into a nightmare.
And now, investigators are asking the same haunting question everyone else is: how did it come to this?
A 14-year-old student who stabbed his art teacher told police he acted out of “too much hatred,” according to Toulon prosecutor Raphaël Balland.
The 60-year-old teacher was stabbed three to four times in the chest in front of 22 students at La Guicharde school in Sanary-sur-Mer.
She remains in a serious condition after emergency surgery.
Prosecutors say the attack was planned. The boy admitted he took a knife from his kitchen at home, intending to stab his teacher.
After feeling wronged by repeated disciplinary reports he described as “unfair.”
There was no religious or political motive, Balland confirmed.
The teenager later told investigators he “deeply regretted” the attack and felt more hatred toward himself than toward the victim.
School Violence Concerns
A judge will now decide whether he should be placed in pre-trial detention.
The school was evacuated immediately, and classes were cancelled the following day.
The teacher, a 28-year veteran at the school, is being treated at Sainte-Anne Military Hospital in Toulon.
Education officials warn this is part of a worrying pattern.
Since last year, more than 500 bladed weapons have been seized in French schools.
As Education Minister Édouard Geffray put it, “Schools reflect our society.”
The real challenge, he said, is learning how to defuse anger before it explodes.
