The Prime Minister on Saturday described as “shocking” the tone of a letter from the Versailles rectorate, sent in the spring to the parents of a teenager who committed suicide at the start of the school year. Élisabeth Borne believes that there was “a failure”. She responded to a question from BFMTV, which published a series of exchanges of letters between the parents of the teenager who committed suicide on September 5 in Poissy (Yvelines), the principal of his high school and the Versailles rectorate.
The latter had described as “unacceptable” comments from parents who would have “questioned” the attitude of the school’s staff, according to the letter revealed by the 24-hour news channel. Enjoining parents to adopt a “constructive and respectful attitude” towards them, the letter from the rectorate also reminded them of the criminal risks of slanderous denunciation.
For Élisabeth Borne, “there was clearly a failure in the type of response addressed to parents who were extremely worried.” “Obviously it’s shocking,” she added. The head of government recalled that an “inspection will allow us to find out how such out-of-date mail could have been transmitted”.
The Minister of Education Gabriel Attal announced at the beginning of September an administrative investigation to shed “light” on the acts of school harassment of which this boy had been a victim, but also on the management of this affair by the National Education services. . He also reacted to the revelation of the letter on Saturday, saying it was “a shame”.
Suicide of Nicolas, victim of school harassment: the letter from the rectorate “is a shame”, says Gabriel Attal pic.twitter.com/hNE9q24PA4
Justice opened an investigation to investigate the causes of death and the Versailles prosecutor’s office then indicated to Agence France-Presse that it was necessary to “remain very cautious at this stage” on the links between the teenager’s suicide and acts of harassment.
The Prime Minister stressed on Saturday that the plan she intends to present to fight against harassment aims to “pay much more attention to the words of children”. Which “also requires training for all adults in contact with children to fully understand the pain they can feel,” she told BFMTV during Heritage Days in Matignon.
Bullying at school, which affects one in ten students, has been made the government’s top priority for the 2023-2024 school year, after the suicide in the spring of young Lindsay, 13, in Pas-de- Calais.
