TRIBUNE – On February 24, 2022, the National Assembly unanimously adopted the proposed law “Combating school bullying” which aimed to provide our country with new tools to combat this scourge, including the creation of a specific offence. As a moment of harmony a few hours before the end of the work of the 15th legislature.
Back to school: On school bullying, this campaign shows that adults underestimate its violence
More recently, the tragedies experienced by our children in this area have shaken our country. We, citizens, have been hurt and outraged by the violence suffered by our youngest compatriots within the very school which should be one of the ramparts against the savagery experienced by our society.
And yet, a year after the suicide of young Nicolas and this tragic affair, and a few weeks before the anniversary of the announcement of the interministerial plan to combat bullying at school, our children remain helpless in the face of this phenomenon and their loved ones with them.
Based on an absolute principle of centralization with a meager force of action given to the territories, the current national strategy to combat school bullying is no longer sufficient. The responses provided on the management and treatment of school bullying situations are no longer sufficient.
A path of concord exists
With already 18 deaths among children who have disappeared as a result of school bullying, France is still on the fringes of European countries when it comes to solutions, particularly therapeutic ones, for supporting victims of this scourge.
However, a path exists. Solutions can be found. And it is in the territories that these answers can be provided. At a time when our political class is divided, the question of the fight against school bullying outlines a possibility of national unity, of republican harmony and this path, for us, passes through the territories.
With the HUGO! Association, we have conducted numerous experiments, particularly in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, to develop “laboratory” territories to provide new and comprehensive systems for dealing with school bullying. So yes, in the face of school bullying, and in light of the political and institutional context that our country is going through, it seems that our national harmony must be able to find a certain reality around the fight against this scourge and more generally on education issues.
Because there is no more important sanctuary than the school for our Republic.
We therefore invite, without any delay, a constructive and republican dialogue of all the parties represented to formulate concrete, operational and realistic proposals in the face of this unprecedented phenomenon. Without any partisan logic. Without any political diversion.
An alert to sound at all levels
And in this project, the political class will be able to find the HUGO! Association and its partners at its side. Local elected representatives’ associations must also be able to find their place in this reflection. Because yes, local authorities have an important role to play in this fight. After-school time, lunch break, the surroundings of schools: so many spaces and moments conducive to such situations that could allow an early diagnosis of school bullying if all the adults present there are trained.
Town halls, on the front line facing citizens, can also be the first contact for families in cases of school bullying and the agents there are perfectly suited, if they are trained, to guide families towards the right levers.
Finally, by looking at the reality on the ground and admitting that no, school bullying cannot be solved from Paris, there is a path to solutions that exists. A path to a response that, all the more, offers our country the possibility of seeing national cohesion on these essential issues.
More than ever, in the face of school bullying, all energies must be mobilized. It is at every level of our society that the alarm must be sounded.
Because we all owe it to our children to preserve this haven of peace called school.
List of Signatories Tribune H… by LeHuffPost
Also see on Le HuffPost :
“A victim of homophobia in high school, my son was not supported”: a mother’s open letter to Pap Ndiaye
These victims of school bullying tell us about the after-effects they have long afterward
