Teachers have walked out of a French school after a 17th century Renaissance painting depicting nude women was shown in an art class and caused parents to complain.
The art teacher showed the masterpiece Diana and Actaeon, painted by Guiseppe Cesari in 1602-1603, in a class at Jacques Cartier school in Issou, west of Paris, last week.
It was part of an art appreciation class for pupils aged 12 and 13, but some Muslim pupils are said to have averted their gaze and felt offended, sparking complaints from their parents.
Now the name of the teacher and claims that she made racist remarks have been circulated online – claims the school denies – raising fears that she could be targeted.
It comes after a French court on Friday convicted six teenagers for their role in the 2020 beheading of Samuel Paty outside his secondary school near Paris, after they helped to identify him to an Islamic extremist.
Paty, a 47-year-old history and geography teacher, was stabbed and beheaded in the Paris suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine in October 2020, just 12 miles from Issou, MailOnline reports.
He sparked outrage after showing a depiction of the Prophet Mohammed to his class, first printed in the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine.
On Friday, teaching staff at Jacques Cartier refused to work in solidarity with the teacher who showed the masterpiece.
Earlier this week, France’s education minister Gabriel Attal visited the school and said pupils who made false claims of racism would be disciplined.
Sophie Venetitay, secretary general of the Snes-FSU secondary school teachers’ union, told French broadcaster BFMTV: ‘We know well that methods like that can lead to a tragedy… We saw it in the murder of Samuel Paty.
‘Our colleagues feel threatened and in danger.
‘Some students averted their gaze, felt offended, said they were shocked. Some also alleged the teacher made racist comments during a class discussion.’
Mrs Venetitay described the situation at the school as the ‘final straw’ for its teachers, who had complained of a ‘very degraded climate’ as well as a ‘lack of support’ from management despite ‘several alerts’.
In an email sent to parents on Friday, teachers said they were exercising their right to stay away from classrooms over the ‘particularly difficult situation’, and claimed students had admitted to lying in social media posts, adding that they are ‘dealing with vindictive parents who prefer to believe their children than us’.
Teachers see themselves ‘on the front line’ of the ethnic and cultural conflict between mainstream France and the country’s Muslim population, The Times reports.
Jacques Cartier’s headteacher has recently appealed to the education ministry for more staff and resources, saying discipline is deteriorating and fights, death threats, and rape threats had become common among pupils.
Mr Attal said a disciplinary procedure would be launched ‘against the students who are responsible for this situation and who have also admitted the facts’.
A team would also be deployed to the school to ensure it adhered to the ‘values of the republic’, he said.
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