Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire has acknowledged “systemic” failings as investigators probe allegations of child abuse by non-teaching staff at more than 100 nurseries and primary schools in the French capital, in a scandal that has shocked the public and exposed major gaps in child protection and accountability.
French police carried out a wave of arrests over suspicions of child abuse at schools in central Paris on Wednesday, dramatically accelerating the authorities’ response to a scandal that has shaken the French capital and undermined faith in its schools.
Officers from the Brigade de protection des mineurs, a child protection unit, detained 16 people with links to a nursery school in the 7th arrondissement (district) of Paris, one of several establishments rocked by allegations of child abuse in the capital’s after-school care system, known as périscolaire.
The suspects were held on an array of charges including “rape of minors”, “sexual assault of minors” and “violence against minors”, according to the public prosecutor’s office. Several had already been suspended from their jobs following multiple reports of abuse and the airing of a documentary that contained scenes of violence filmed using a hidden camera.
The arrests come as the authorities face intense pressure from distraught parents who accuse monitors in charge of children outside the classroom – such as during recess or before pick-up – of mistreating or abusing pupils in their care.
On Sunday, the city’s top prosecutor Laure Beccuau said investigators were looking into allegations of abuse by non-teaching staff at 84 nursery schools and around 20 primary schools – roughly one in six such institutions in the French capital.
Beccuau said the allegations concerned all 20 districts of Paris, whose incoming mayor Emmanuel Grégoire has promised to treat the scandal as his “absolute priority”.
'Breakdown of trust’
The prosecutor’s dizzying numbers come as little surprise to Barka Zerouali, a co-founder of parents’ collective #MeTooEcoles, who says families’ complaints have long been ignored by city officials, the police or both.
“I fear it’s only the beginning, because I know of many families who are yet to hear back from the authorities,” Zerouali said on FRANCE 24. “We’re not just angry – we’re outraged. It feels like we’ve been talking to the wind.”
The term “périscolaire” refers to the supervision of children outside classroom hours, including lunch breaks, naps and after-school care. Unlike teachers, who are hired by the education ministry, staff in the périscolaire are recruited by city officials, often on temporary postings that offer low pay and require only minimal training.
Grégoire, the city’s new Socialist mayor, has announced dozens of suspensions and pledged to stamp out the violence. He has vowed better vetting of people who apply to be after-school monitors, and improved training for recruits, including on how to report suspected mistreatment.
Bowing to pressure from the opposition, the mayor agreed on Wednesday to set up a cross-party inquiry into the city’s handling of périscolaire. He has also convened an assembly of parents tasked with exploring ways to improve child protection and rethink after-school hours, which a 2013 reform massively expanded.
Grégoire, who suffered sexual abuse himself during an after-school swimming programme in primary, has struck a more conciliatory tone than his predecessor Anne Hidalgo, acknowledging a “systemic” problem and apologising to parents on behalf of city hall.
“I know there is a clear breakdown of trust in the state school system,” Grégoire told the French capital’s municipal council. “But we will get there; we have no choice.”
Unspeakable abuse, complaints unheard
SOS Périscolaire, another parents’ collective, says it has received more than 600 testimonies from families detailing allegations of physical, psychological and sexual abuse at nurseries and primary schools across France, stressing that the problem is not limited to Paris.
Read moreAbuse at French after-school programmes: Parents sound the alarm
The accounts range from “insults and public humiliation to children being beaten and forced to eat until they vomit", says the group’s co-founder Elisabeth Guthmann. “We also have accounts of sexual violence, including groping, sexual assault and rape,” she adds.
Establishing cases of abuse can be extremely difficult when victims are as young as three and often unable to process the violence or put it into words. Delays in investigating allegations add a further constraint.
“Children’s memories fade over time, especially when they're very young. It is therefore essential that, once a child has opened up, they are heard as soon as possible by investigators,” Guthmann explains. “Unfortunately, it generally takes several months for a complaint to the police to lead to a summons by the Child Protection Unit – by which point any physical mark is likely to have disappeared.”
Parents’ representatives say such obstacles explain why only a handful of cases end up in the courts.
A Paris court is due to rule next month in the case of a 47-year-old school monitor accused of sexual assault on three girls and sexual harassment of nine others when they were aged 10 in 2024. Prosecutors have called for an 18-month suspended sentence and a ban from working with children.
Last month, a youth worker in his twenties was charged with “acts of a sexual nature” against three children and remanded in custody.
However, judicial investigations remain the exception – a trend that Kathleen Taieb, a lawyer representing several parents who have pressed charges, attributes in large part to a chronic shortage of specialised officers.
“I have clients who filed a complaint months ago and are yet to see an investigator,” she says. “When I call the (child protection unit) they say they’re sorry but are already swamped and can take no further complaints.”
The lawyer called for more and better trained investigators to keep up with the deluge of complaints and act swiftly.
“Speed is of the essence given the nature of the allegations and the victims’ young age,” she says. “Instead, it takes months to interview the children, up to a year to search school premises and suspects’ homes or phones, and too many investigations are simply dropped.”
Beccuau, the Paris prosecutor, has promised increased resources for the child protection unit, acknowledging on Sunday that “a considerable number of allegations are awaiting investigation”.
'Presumption of guilt’
The mayor of Paris has also cited legal hurdles in his attempts to stamp out violence in the périscolaire.
In an interview with France 2 on Wednesday, Grégoire personally apologised for the hiring last year of an after-school monitor who had previously been charged with sexual abuse at a school in a nearby district – news of which had further angered parents’ collectives.
Read moreChildren ‘subjected to monstrosities’: Report exposes decades of abuse in French schools
However, he noted that the worker had been cleared of wrongdoing, leaving municipal authorities with “no legal basis to sanction him”.
Grégoire also defended his policy of systematically suspending care workers “at the slightest report (of abuse)”, adding that he preferred “to be unfair to staff for the time being rather than take the slightest risk with regard to the children”.
Several parents’ groups have also called for a zero-tolerance policy, despite the strain on after-school services that are already chronically understaffed.
“Behind each suspension, there is a child. And wherever there is a doubt, the priority must be the child’s protection,” says Zerouali of #MeTooEcoles.
Others have called for a case-by-case treatment for some of the less serious allegations, expressing understanding for after-school monitors who say that the scandal has put a target on their back.
Unions called a strike in the périscolaire on Tuesday to denounce “arbitrary suspensions” and poor conditions, including understaffing and low pay.
One striking worker told French daily Le Monde that a “presumption of guilt” was fuelling anxiety among staff and driving many to quit their jobs. Others said a lack of training left them ill-equipped to treat certain situations, describing the standard BAFA certificate required of youth workers – which involves following a two-week course – as much too basic.
“You can’t learn a trade in two weeks. We need proper vocational qualifications that teach about the needs of children and help prevent gender-based and sexual violence,” says Guthmann of SOS Périscolaire, acknowledging many of the grievances voiced by after-school workers.
“There are many monitors who are caring and deeply committed to their work and we support their call for greater recognition,” she adds. “It is essential that this profession regains its meaning.”
