The Minister of National Education, Gabriel Attal, must present a plan to combat school bullying on September 27, 2023. The measures have already been presented to education unions this Monday.
National Education wants to tackle school bullying. This scourge has pushed several adolescents to commit suicide in recent months, young Lindsay aged 13 in May and Nicolas who was 15 the day after the start of the school year in September 2023. Driven to act by these tragedies, the ministry must present its interministerial plan to combat harassment, promised since June, this Wednesday, September 27. Minister Gabriel Attal presented these anti-harassment provisions in preview to education unions during an interview organized on rue de Grenelle on June 25.
Several measures that could be taken against student perpetrators of harassment had already been announced during the month of June after the dramatic death of little Lindsay. The minister had announced, among other things, the possibility of forcing the harassing student to change establishment in place of the harassed victim from the start of the 2023 school year. But the fight against harassment must be broader and able to respond to cyberharassment. A whole section of the interministerial plan was designed to put an end to this form of online violence.
Restricted access or even banishment from social networks
It is on social networks that cases of cyberharassment between students often take place, far from the gaze of the authorities or parents. However, these platforms cannot “be a jungle, a playground without an adult to supervise” assured the minister to the Figaroadding that he wanted to “respect [la] digital majority”. Gabriel Attal therefore wishes to enforce the ban on registering on social networks for minors under 15 without parental consent, a measure already provided for by the Marcangelli law passed in July. This restricted access to networks social would involve “the use of the EduConnect file” already used by students to certify their age and receive their Culture Pass.
Access to social networks should also be limited by a digital curfew put in place at the start of legal proceedings, against a student suspected of being at the origin of harassment. The measure would create a curfew “which would prohibit, for example, from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. the use of social networks” according to the minister. In the event of non-compliance with the ban and continuation of harassment, the children’s judge “may order an outright ban” from the networks. If it is children who are targeted by the sanction, the minister calls for the responsibility of parents: “It will be up to them to monitor their child so that they respect this ban.”
Phones systematically confiscated
Not only to limit the access of harassing students to social networks, the minister plans to confiscate the phones of these students as soon as a case of serious cyberbullying gives rise to a referral to the children’s judge. This “pre-sentence” measure must complement Jean-Noël Barrot’s “secure and regulate the digital space” bill, and allow faster action than banning social networks for six months after a conviction of the student. .
An anti-harassment brigade
In addition to sanctions, the interministerial plan to combat school bullying also provides for preventive measures such as the creation of anti-harassment brigades “within each academy”. These brigades would be made up of National Education officials trained in the fight against school bullying, such as inspectors or psychologists, and responsible for prevention missions with students. They should also serve as a safe space for students who are victims of harassment so that they can report their situation and the necessary measures can be taken. The principle of the anti-harassment brigades follows that of the “values of the Republic” teams which advise students on secularism.