Wave of child abuse cases shakes schools in Paris

"My wife took our daughter into the garden and asked her if she had been touched in after-school time, and she said 'Yes, David touches me and gives me cuddles.'"My wife said, 'Show me', and my daughter started stroking her back in a bizarre way. That's when we knew something was wrong."AFP via Getty ImagesElisabeth Guthmann co-founded after-school association SOS-Périscolaire in response to the increasing reports of abuseThe scandal has created a climate of mistrust and fear among parents of young children in Paris, many of whom accuse the City Hall – which employs the animateurs – of failing initially to take the complaints seriously.According to after-school association SOS-Périscolaire, the main problem has been the low quality of animateurs, who are poorly paid and at most need only a basic certificate in child management to get a job. Sometimes the pressure to recruit is so great that even that requirement is waived.Elisabeth Guthmann, who founded the association in 2021, said it was in response to the growing number of stories circulating among parents about teasing, taunting and other types of low-level abuse by animateurs.She cited a case of four animateurs at a junior school in the 16th arrondissement who "set up a fight-club with the other children standing around shouting 'Hit him!'".The new mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Grégoire, has vowed to reform the recruitment system with €20m (£17.2m) for training and monitoring. He also said animateurs would be automatically suspended after a single complaint had been lodged. Since the start of the year nearly 80 have been suspended.The animateurs – most of whom are on short-term contracts – are expected to look after young children during meal-times and in the afternoons after classes finish. They are supposed to conduct various sporting, craft and leisure activities.School assistants complain they face unfair suspicion because of the wave of complaintsBut the assistants say they themselves are now victims of generalised suspicion and discrimination because of the scandal. Last week they staged a strike to call for recognition and more investment in their profession."Parents have, so to speak, taken power over the schools and started reporting things. Except that not everything they report is necessarily accurate," said Carla Bonnet of the FO union."City Hall is no longer objective," said Rémi, an after-school assistant. "It doesn't investigate [the allegations]… it doesn't look after us."Working with children today, at the drop of a hat you can be accused of absolutely anything.""When you have a system in which workers aren't properly paid or trained or monitored, and where there's no money or proper procedures for raising the alert, it's not surprising that things get out of control," said Grégoire Ensel of the parents' organisation FCPE.The scandal has been centred on Paris, but activists say that similar problems exist across the country.