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Ringing school bells marked the start of the new year academic year in France on Tuesday. This year, the government has introduced a string of unprecedented measures, including a ban on mobile phones in primary and secondary schools, as well as new steps to tackle sexual violence.

For the first time, France’s annual school questionnaire on bullying — which has been handed out to pupils since 2023 — will include questions on sexual violence. Pupils will be able to choose whether or not to they wish to remain anonymous in this questionnaire, which will be distributed in November.

Speaking to French broadcaster BFMTV on 25 August, France’s education minister Édouard Geffray, said that around 10 million pupils, ranging from primary to secondary school, would complete the form, designed “with school staff, parents’ associations and a committee of experts, including child psychiatrists”. According to the minister, the results could be “seismic”.

Teachers will collect the forms first. If any responses raise concerns, school leaders are then expected to step in, either by reporting the case to the relevant regional education authority or, in more serious situations, referring it to the justice system.

Reaction to alarming figures

This initiative comes in the wake of numerous child sexual violence scandals in France, particularly in supervised childcare services. In Paris alone, there are 203 criminal investigations underway into alleged acts of violence, including sexual violence, in schools and in after-school settings, according to the latest official figures dated 26 August.

Despite these alarming figures, schools are still the main place where child sexual abuse reports are filed, with on average 80,000 reports a year, according to France’s education minister.

Estimates made in 2023 by the CIIVISE (the Independent Commission on Incest and Sexual Violence against Children) assessed that around 160,000 children are victims of sexual violence every year in France, with 77% of this abuse occurring in a family environment. That amounts to one child being raped or sexually assaulted every three minutes.

Parents’ doubts and fears about initiative

According to France’s education minister, questions about sexual violence will be tailored to pupils’ ages. Despite this, parents have mixed feelings.

For Samuel Bougnat, a father of a three-year-old, the measure is a step in the right direction, “I think school has a role to play in providing support and in reporting possible violence, because school should be a sanctuary, a place where children can feel confident enough to talk about things that may be happening at home”.”

Another father of two young children who preferred to remain anonymous also backed the measure, “personally, I think it is pragmatic given that all children are supposed to go through school at some point; so if there is one place where we can spot things that are problematic and dangerous for children, it is there.”

“As a parent, I will be paying close attention to how these forms are rolled out through, especially to ensure that they are appropriate for younger children”, he added.

Others, like Caroline Varas, who has a four-and-a-half-year-old son, are less convinced. “I am not entirely sure that school should be responsible for this. I think it should be collaborative work: with independent parents’ associations, the local council and the school.”

“If it is only the school dealing with it, they will cover themselves, protect themselves. I found out afterwards that there had been violence – not sexual violence, but violence – in my child’s school. There is a missing intermediary between the school and parents”, she added.

Child protection organisations react with caution

Laura Morin-Baudet, who heads L’Enfant Bleu, a Paris-based non-profit that fights child abuse, says she “welcomes” the fact that the education ministry is taking up the issue of child sexual violence, but also voiced doubts about the practical side of things.

“It all depends on the conditions children answer these questions in. If the child feels comfortable, has the feeling that their friend sitting next to them cannot necessarily see their answers, then perhaps, indeed, they will end up saying something. But on the other hand, if they have the slightest doubt, if they are afraid, if they are unsure where these documents will go, we unfortunately know that they will not necessarily confide.”

For Laura Morin-Baudet, alongside any such questionnaires, it is still key to carry out prevention and raise awareness in schools.

“We know just how poorly trained teachers and childcare professionals are in this area. Our organisation regularly receives calls from professionals who tell us: ‘I have observed this and that, what can I do, how should I act?’ So we know there is that need.”

“Sometimes signs can manifest themselves through words, but it can also be through behaviour. It may be a child who suddenly becomes very agitated when they were not before, or conversely a child who withdraws completely. And that is where an adult’s gaze can interpret things and build up relationship of trust.”

Teachers’ unions welcome initiative but question format

According to Jean-Rémi Girard, president of the National Union of Lycées and Collèges, schools and higher education (SNALC), “the vast majority” of teachers support the initiative.

“For us, the most important thing is that school should be a safe place for our pupils and, in fact, for everyone. That does not mean we are the ones who will do the work of the justice system, quite clearly. But we are nonetheless able to talk to pupils, to go and see a little what is happening, to take an interest in children’s living conditions and to gather information so that we can then pass the baton to the police and the justice system.”

“Sometimes very young children are not aware of how serious what has happened to them is. With the form, very simple questions will allow us not to make a diagnosis, but at least to identify a first point that needs attention.”

For her part, Béatrice Laurent, secretary of the education union UNSA Éducation, speaks of a “dilemma”.

“We cannot be against a programme that allows children to report violence they may have suffered. But the immediate question is whether a written questionnaire is the right format.”

“Our concern also relates to how these questionnaires will be processed. Is there enough staff in the education system to deal with the reports that children are going to make? It would be truly tragic for children to disclose what has happened to them and for nothing to happen afterwards.”

France’s education ministry did not respond to EU News’ questions about the specific details of the questionnaire, or about how the justice system would intervene if the results turned out to be “seismic”, as the country’s minister has suggested.

The ministry said that work to prepare the questionnaire is underway and that it was therefore premature to provide more precise answers.