A decree published this Thursday, August 17 in the Official Journal (JO) brings into force several measures to fight against school harassment. From now on, it will be possible in particular to exclude a pupil responsible for school harassment in primary schools.
“In primary schools, there is no disciplinary council, and in the event that it is necessary to separate the harassing pupil from the harassed pupil, we arrive at a situation which is not normal, whereby it is the harassed student who must leave”, had exposed the former Minister of National Education, in an interview with RTL last April. Pap Ndiaye then assured that he wanted to respond to this situation with a “regulatory change”. It is now done. Indeed, a decree published this Thursday, August 17 in the Official Journal (JO) enshrines in French legislation the possibility of excluding a bullying pupil in first degree establishments, reports TF1 News.
“When the intentional and repeated behavior of a student poses a clear risk to the safety or health of another student in the school, the school principal (…) implements, by involving the parents of the student (…) in question, any educational measure likely to put an end to this behavior”, we read in this decree. “If, despite the implementation of the measures mentioned (…), the student’s behavior persists, the academic director of the national education services (…) may ask the mayor to proceed with the removal of this pupil of the school and his registration in another school of the commune”, specifies the decree.
In addition, in the second degree (colleges and high schools), this decree widens “the scope of the disciplinary procedure to cases in which students commit acts of harassment against students located in another establishment”, reports TF1 News. This broadening of the scope of the disciplinary procedure also applies in cases of cyberbullying. Finally, in the event that facts undermining the values of the Republic or the principle of secularism are identified in an establishment, the head of this establishment “is required to initiate disciplinary proceedings”, indicates The Express. He can also “ask the academic director of the national education services to appoint (…) a person competent in this field to sit in an advisory capacity on the disciplinary council”.
“Zero tolerance” against school bullying
The new Minister of National Education, Gabriel Attal, has been visiting Reunion Island since Wednesday, while the start of the school year took place there on Thursday. As reported The Expressthe Minister assured, during an interview published on Wednesday in The Daily newspaper of Reunion and the Indian Oceanwanting a “zero tolerance against all forms of harassment”.
In France, the subject of school bullying took an important place in the public debate after Lindsay’s suicide last May. The 13-year-old girl had taken her own life after being bullied at school. Last January, Lucas, also 13, also committed suicide after being bullied at school. After Lindsay’s suicide, Elisabeth Borne, the Prime Minister, declared at the beginning of June that she wanted to “make the fight against school bullying the absolute priority for the start of the 2023 school year”, recalls Le Figaro.