“You have to put on three layers of gloves before talking about it with the students” – Liberation

According to an Ifop poll for the National Committee for Secular Action, published this Thursday, since the assassination of Samuel Paty, 48% of teachers have already censored themselves on the subject. Between pirouettes and frank discussions, the teachers approach religion with caution.

She already seems far away from that time when she could talk secularism with her students without imagining the worst: dying to teach. It was before Samuel Paty, this professor of history and geography beheaded on October 16, 2020 at the end of his college in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines) for having shown caricatures of Muhammad. This assassination always remains in a corner of the head of Delphine, French teacher in the academy of Besançon (Doubs), when she has to speak secularism, freedom of expression, critical spirit with her students. She’s not the only one.

According to an Ifop survey for the National Committee for Secular Action (Cnal) carried out among 650 teachers and published this Thursday, June 15 in Release, more than 40% of teachers – 56% in the priority education network – indicate that this attack has influenced the way they talk about these subjects at school. Half of them now approach them with more caution so as not to offend certain students. “You have to put on three layers of gloves before talking about it with them”, recognizes Delphine. In his colle