Pap Ndiaye will propose “a regulatory change”. The Minister of Education wishes that in the event of school harassment, “as a last resort”, it is the harassing pupil who is transferred to another establishment and not the harassed pupil, he indicated on Tuesday.
“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, ”explained the minister on RTL.
“We can change things”
“We can change things and that is what I am therefore going to propose”, via “a regulatory change”: “as a last resort, when all the solutions have been exhausted (…), the bullying pupil can be educated in a another school, regardless of the parents’ opinion, if the mayor or mayors concerned agree,” he added.
“We first try to reconcile”, and “in the final analysis, if that does not work”, we can decide “that it is the bullying pupil, and not the bullied pupil, who will have to be educated in a another school”, detailed the minister, recalling that the children concerned (in elementary school) are between 6 and 11 years old.
Nearly one in ten students is the victim of bullying during their schooling, according to figures from the ministry. This subject has been the subject of increased awareness since the National Conference against bullying at school in 2011.
Prevention in schools
A prevention system in elementary schools and colleges, the pHARe program, was tested from 2019 in six academies, planned to be generalized at the start of the 2022 school year to all elementary schools and colleges. At present, “60% of schools and 86% of colleges are involved in this program”, indicated the Minister.
In particular, it provides for the training of a reference team of five people per middle school and per first degree district, the training of student ambassadors in the middle schools and ten hours of training per year for children, from CP to 3rd grade, devoted to the prevention of bullying and to the development of psychosocial skills. The minister announced on RTL that this phARe program would also be “generalized in the direction of high schools at the start of the next school year”.
“We have data on the six academies where this program has been tested, which show a drop in the number of cases of harassment and a time also shortened in the treatment of harassment. So we know it’s good. We have to move forward,” he said.