French police will begin searching children for knives after a spate of school stabbings that have led to multiple deaths and hospital admissions.

From the spring, officers will conduct random spot checks of students’ bags as they enter school, Elisabeth Borne, the education minister, said.

The searches will be carried out by police, as teachers and school staff are only authorised to conduct visual checks.

According to the Parisian authorities, there were 40 “bladed weapon attacks” at schools in the French capital in the first three months of the 2024-25 school year.

During a brawl at a high school in the town of Bagneux, south of Paris, this month, a 17-year-old student was stabbed near the heart and suffered life-threatening injuries. A 20-year-old was arrested, but the motive remains unclear.