Last Thursday, we were informed of the tragic event that occurred in Nantes, a city in western France, where a 15-year-old student carried out a knife attack, taking the life of a fellow student and injuring three others, one of whom is reported to be in critical condition. Authorities have confirmed that the deceased is a female student. According to local media, the attacker assaulted students from two different classrooms before being disarmed and restrained by teachers, who handed him over to the police, leading to his arrest.
France’s Interior Minister, Bruno Retailleau, expressed his indignation and concern, emphasizing that “schools must not become places of savagery, places of death. This is not just news, this tragedy is a social issue.” His statement highlights the growing concern about youth violence and the role of educational institutions as safe spaces.
The NESET report, Achieving Student Well-being for All: Educational Contexts Free of Violence, stresses the importance of adopting approaches backed by scientific evidence of social impact. These are actions that have proven effectiveness in creating safe school environments and preventing violence. One of the Successful Educational Actions highlighted in the report that improves school coexistence is the Zero Violence Brave Club. Scientific research has already demonstrated the positive effects that the implementation of this educational action has on students’ health.
Recently, in connection with a popular adolescent TV series that depicted a boy killing a classmate, a similarly tragic case has now occurred in real life. This alarming convergence between fiction and reality has a profoundly negative social impact, yet it can be reversed. We already have the scientific evidence that provides solutions. Across various universities and local communities, events have been organized to raise awareness and promote actions like the “vaccine” that it is the Zero Violence Brave Club. These initiatives are not only preventive but transformative.
Moreover, it is essential to mention the existence of the international initiative #metooschools. Every adult who has experienced sexual harassment in a school setting must know they are not alone. They can be part of an international Brave Club, where survivors unite, support one another, and collectively promote a culture of zero tolerance to violence in educational spaces.
This is not the time to throw our hands up in despair, asking how something like this could happen. This is the time to intervene based on scientific evidence with social impact to prevent it. The vaccine against school violence exists – let’s use it.
Assistant Lecturer at the University of the Basque Country
Editor of Daily 27.
Predoctoral researcher at the Department of Sociology in University of Barcelona.