France is facing a child abuse scandal as dozens of state nursery and primary schools investigate their monitors for violence, sexual assault, and rape.
Paris prosecutors have confirmed that police are looking into more than 100 reports of mistreatment, physical violence, and rape involving children as young as three. These incidents are said to have happened during lunch breaks, nap times, and after-school activities.
Laure Beccuau, Paris’s top prosecutor, said: “We have ongoing investigations in 84 preschools, about 20 primary schools, and around 10 daycare centers.” Lawyers added that the investigations include alleged rapes of children as young as three and four.
Parents’ groups said they had been fighting for years to have these allegations taken seriously. They believe that problems in how school monitors are hired and checked allowed the abuse to continue.
Florian Lastelle, a lawyer for three Paris families who have filed police complaints about the alleged abuse of their children, said: “It’s a massive scandal. The state school system is a source of pride in this country, but unfortunately in France today, you can’t say that the public service guarantees children’s safety.”
School monitors are adults who look after children during lunch, breaks, naps, and after-school activities. They often spend more time with the children than teachers do. However, they are not hired directly by schools or the education ministry. Instead, they are recruited by city hall or local authorities, often without training or professional qualifications. Many are hired on a casual basis and paid by the hour.
In France, nursery school is mandatory from age three, and school monitors are a key part of daily life for children aged three to eleven.
Across France, parents have reported monitors screaming at children, pushing them, pulling their hair, denying them food, forcing them to eat until they vomited, and sexually assaulting or raping them.
Lawyer Louis Cailliez, who represents two Paris families, filed police complaints in February about the alleged rapes of their nursery schoolchildren in 2025. In one case, a three-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a school monitor at a school in western Paris. In another, a three-year-old boy was allegedly raped by the same monitor, who had been moved to a different school after complaints that he had been physically violent toward children.
Cailliez said: “One morning, the three-year-old boy became so upset in front of the school gates, refusing to go in, that he fell into a kind of trance, and his mother was in tears. The headteacher had to come out and force the child into school. At the time, neither the mother nor the headteacher knew why.”
He added that the children were suffering physically and psychologically from the effects of the alleged abuse. “It’s daily torture for the parents, who want the investigation to move forward so the full scale of the offenses can be established.”
Cailliez described the school monitor system in France as a “disaster” and a “national catastrophe.”
Next week, a trial begins in Paris for a school monitor accused of sexually abusing five children aged three to five at a nursery school in the 11th arrondissement. A verdict is expected next month in another case involving a 47-year-old school monitor accused of sexually abusing nine 10-year-old girls in Paris.
Emmanuel Grégoire, the new Socialist mayor, has launched a €20 million plan to address what he calls “major dysfunction” in the city’s school monitor system.The mayor of Paris has launched a €20 million (£17.3 million) plan to address what he called “major dysfunction” in the city’s school monitor system. “If there was a collective mistake, it was to treat these incidents as isolated when in fact they point to a systemic risk, and perhaps even a systemic code of silence,” Grégoire told Le Monde last month.
Between January and April, Paris city hall suspended 78 school monitors, including 31 suspected of sexual abuse.
Grégoire, who revealed that he was sexually abused as a child by a school monitor, has set up a citizens’ assembly to discuss the role of school monitors. The assembly will report back in June.
The parents’ collective, SOS Périscolaire, has been leading efforts to gather testimony and campaign for justice over the past five years, despite struggling to make parents’ voices heard. One of its founders, Anne, who asked not to be fully named, said the abuse scandal is nationwide. “This is clearly systemic and across the whole of France. There is dysfunction not just at a city level, but we’re beginning to say there is also dysfunction by the state.”
She said it was a positive sign that prosecutors have opened investigations into school monitors: “At last, parents and children’s accounts are being taken seriously.”
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She said parents are fighting for basic measures, like being given a list of names and photos of the school monitors working with their children’s classes. These are still not provided systematically.
A spokesperson for another parents’ group, #MeTooEcole, set up in eastern Paris, said: “French society is waking up to the fact that school is not the safe haven we thought it was. When you drop a child off at school in the morning, that child is absolutely not protected against administrative failures and paedophile behavior. Children are facing all kinds of violence: from verbal and physical abuse to sexual assault. It’s horrifying and it’s creating fear. Parents are outraged.”
Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organizations. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html
Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of FAQs about the major child abuse scandal in France involving school staff written in a natural tone with clear and direct answers
BeginnerLevel Questions
1 What is this scandal about
Its about widespread allegations of violence and sexual assault committed by staff in French schools particularly Catholic institutions The abuse reportedly happened over several decades
2 Why is it called a major scandal
Because the scale is huge Thousands of victims have come forward and investigations show that the abuse was often covered up by the church and school authorities for years
3 Who are the victims
The victims are children and teenagers who attended these schools Many are now adults but they are finally speaking out about what happened to them
4 Who is being investigated
Current and former teachers priests and other school staff members are under investigation Some have been charged and others are being looked into for their role in covering up the abuse
5 Has anyone been arrested
Yes Several people have been arrested and charged with crimes like rape and sexual assault More arrests are expected as the investigation continues
IntermediateLevel Questions
6 How did this scandal come to light
It came to light after a major report by the French Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church in 2021 That report estimated 330000 children were abused by clergy or churchaffiliated staff since 1950 The school abuse cases are part of this broader investigation
7 What types of abuse are we talking about
It includes physical violence sexual assault rape and psychological abuse Many victims describe being beaten humiliated and sexually exploited by people they trusted
8 Why did it take so long for victims to come forward
Victims were often threatened shamed or told they wouldnt be believed Many felt immense guilt and fear The church and schools also had a culture of silence protecting abusers rather than children
9 What is the French government doing about it
The government has launched official investigations and is pushing for legal reforms President Macron has acknowledged the failures of the state and church New laws are being considered to extend the statute of limitations for child sex abuse
10 Are only Catholic schools involved
The vast majority of cases involve Catholic private schools but
