Nicole Belloubet, the minister of national education, also expressed her condolences.
“The loss of a young life, full of promise and a future, is a tragedy which upsets me, which upsets us. In the pain, all of national education is with its loved ones,” she said.
Thursday’s attack took place just hours after Gabriel Attal, the prime minister, delivered a hard-line message about youth violence and school security, prompted by the killing of a student at the hands of his classmates on the outskirts of Paris earlier this month.
15-year-old beaten to death
Speaking from Viry-Châtillon, where 15-year-old Shemseddine was beaten to death, Mr Attal vowed to crack down on youth violence by restoring authority and respect in schools.
Dismissing any notion that their age would shelter schoolchildren from impunity in instances of wrongdoing, Mr Attal warned “the culture of excuses is over”.
“You break, you repair; you dirty, you clean; you challenge authority, you learn to respect it,” he said.
The prime minister added the government was working on a series of measures aimed at restoring order, including fining parents of delinquent children, sending rule-breaking minors to public boarding schools, toughening criminal laws for young offenders, regulating screen time and expanding school opening hours for sixth form students from 8am to 6pm.
While school hours differ across France, most institutions begin classes between 8am to 8.30am and finish them between 4.30 pm to 5pm. Extended opening hours would be made a priority in low-income neighbourhoods, Mr Attal said.
