• Stabbed multiple times in class in front of students
• 14-year-old student arrested

A 60-year-old high school art teacher in southeastern France was stabbed several times by a 14-year-old pupil, leaving her in critical condition in intensive care, according to a local official.

The official said the teacher was stabbed three to four times in the chest in front of about 20 students inside the classroom.

The suspect fled the room before being caught in the schoolyard and was later arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

Toulon’s public prosecutor, Raphaël Balland, said the attack did not appear politically motivated, adding: “All we know is that there had been recent tensions between him and the teacher, and he was angry with her.”

The school was evacuated following the attack, and Wednesday classes were canceled, a regional education official said.

Earlier on Tuesday, French Education Minister Édouard Geffray announced he was heading “immediately” to the school in the coastal Var region.

He wrote on X: “My thoughts are with the victim, her family, and the entire educational community, whose deep shock I share.”