“When you drop your child off at school, you must drop them off in a safety bubble.” The Minister of National Education, Édouard Geffray, estimated this Wednesday on RTL that “the level of control was insufficient” in after-school education, shattered for several months by a series of reports of violence and sexual assault, notably in Paris, which have highlighted light of the flaws in recruitment and in the management of alerts.
Beyond Paris, where the question was raised in the municipal campaign, other cases of violence suffered during after-school activities have also been reported in the region.
“We must considerably increase the level of control over extracurricular activities, as we do on the school side,” declared the minister.
« The legal responsibility (…) is that of the municipality »
A delegate for child protection at the school has, however, been appointed and will take up her duties “tomorrow”, he said. Its “role will be that the school and extracurricular work together” on these questions and “can be contacted” in the event of a “dysfunction” in the school setting, according to Édouard Geffray.
Asked about the reports in Parisian schools, Édouard Geffray recalled that “the legal responsibility, if it is in extracurricular activities, is that of the municipality”. “It is up to the City of Paris (…) to better control its agents, to oust those who are guilty of behavior that is criminal or ordinary violence,” he added.
Concerning national education, he ensures that personnel control systems have been strengthened. “I ensure that the transition to the file (consultation of judicial files) is periodic and not only upon entry (into national education),” he indicated.
The minister also mentioned a future bill which would aim to “definitively prohibit” national education personnel who have engaged in inappropriate behavior with minors from returning to their jobs, “even if they have not been convicted”.
