The government has come under criticism over the way it has handled a series of dramatic cases. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has made the fight against bullying a priority for the new school year.
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has called for a “general mobilisation” to fight bullying at school, with a raft of measures ranging from systematic reporting of cases to the courts to excluding pupils who bully others from social networks.
The government has recently come under criticism over the way it has dealt with a series of dramatic cases. And the way the French education system was handling what the prime minister described as a “massive phenomenon”. She said the fight against bullying was an “absolute priority” for the new school year.
“We must mobilise across the board”, said Borne, before adding that she wanted to wage “a relentless fight against harassment”.
“You are not alone”, she said to pupils who had been harassed.
The series of measures include making 3018, the emergency number currently dedicated to cyberbullying, the single number for reporting bullying cases.
The plan also calls for all members of the education community to be trained in the fight against harassment by the end of a five-year period.
More generally, all adults working with minors, for example in sports or at camps, would receive training on the subject of bullying.
The government also wants to introduce the confiscation of telephones, and make it possible to exclude harassing pupils from social networks.