Six years after Paty’s murder, French television gains first access to his school: Students willing to join counterterrorism efforts

Six years after Paty’s murder, France 24 journalists have for the first time been granted permission to film inside the school where Samuel Paty taught. According to a France 24 report aired on October 20, 2026, journalists traveled to the school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, near Paris, and met with a group of students from a new generation determined to play a role in counterterrorism efforts.

Paty was murdered on October 16, 2020. According to France 24, false rumors about racism began circulating after a lesson in which Charlie Hebdo cartoons were displayed. France 24’s report focuses on the students Paty left behind and their willingness to participate in counterterrorism efforts.

The report describes the students as a new generation determined to play a role in the fight against terrorism, highlighting their initiative in confronting the threat of terrorism. The footage shows not only the trauma left behind in school life after Paty’s murder, but also young students willing to speak out and act against terrorism.

The fact that filming was authorized for the first time shows that media access to the school was subject to an approval process. The report does not identify who approved the filming, what conditions were attached or the extent of the access granted to journalists. The visit therefore establishes only that the media received limited permission to film; it does not show that the school has opened its internal records to the public.

The students’ initiative cannot substitute for policy evaluation. The available material does not identify any specific counterterrorism education arrangements adopted by the school or the French government, explain their outcomes, or examine the social costs that related security measures could produce. The report alone therefore cannot show how French schools balance security and expression, nor can it establish whether counterterrorism education itself can withstand scrutiny.

By choosing youth engaged in counterterrorism efforts as the report’s positive focus, France 24 presents the students’ initiative while leaving policy-making and institutional accountability off camera. The report confirms media access and students’ willingness to participate, but does not answer how counterterrorism policies in French schools are formulated or implemented, how effective they are, or who bears the associated costs.