France addresses systemic child abuse and school safety reforms

French Senator Agnès Evren has released a preliminary report regarding a commission of inquiry into physical abuse committed by after-school activity supervisors. The investigation, which covers at least 70 departments, highlights systemic failures in recruitment, reporting, and institutional coordination. Evren noted that 50% of previous recommendations have not been implemented over the last decade and criticized a “dilution of responsibilities” regarding the handling of such cases.

In Paris, criminal investigations are currently active in one out of every three public nursery schools and one out of every six elementary schools. The Senator emphasized the need to identify specific malfunctions at every link in the chain of responsibility rather than viewing the issue as a collective failure.

Simultaneously, the French National Assembly is examining a bill aimed at providing a comprehensive response to sexual and gender-based violence against women and children. A key provision of the bill, Article 30, proposes mandatory annual individual interviews for every child from nursery school until adulthood to screen for physical and psychological violence.

In response, Education Minister Édouard Geffray has proposed an alternative measure: an annual anonymous questionnaire distributed to students from nursery school through high school. This system would allow students to report experiences and optionally provide their names if they wish to meet with a trusted adult.