“Unannounced searches of school bags” will be carried out from spring in France as part of the fight against violence in or near schools, National Education Minister Elizabeth Bourne announced today.

These surprise searches will be carried out by “forces of law and order, as this action is not within the purview of the educational staff,” the minister clarified, who expressed concern about “a much more widespread use of sharp weapons” by youths.

In early February, a 17-year-old high school student was seriously injured by a sharp weapon in the courtyard of his school in Bagnier, near Paris.

Bourne reiterated her intention to amend the education code so that if a student found in possession of a sharp weapon on school premises is found to be in possession of it, the student in possession “will be systematically brought before a disciplinary board.”

Until now, “this depended on the assessment of the head of the institution,” he recalled. Also, the violation will be “systematically” pointed out to the prosecutor.

Before the winter holidays, which began last Saturday in the Paris region, more than twenty secondary schools and high schools in the Seine-Saint-Denis department, one of the poorest in France, were placed under the surveillance of 100 police officers deployed to “prevent the recurrence of acts of violence” near school institutions after a series of incidents.