more than one student per class on average says they are victims of this “scourge”, reveals the Minister of National Education

“It’s a real scourge that we absolutely must regulate”declared Nicole Belloubet. More than one student per class is on average the victim of school bullying, according to the results of a major national survey revealed by the new Minister of National Education on Monday February 12. The survey, carried out in November 2023 in the wake of an interministerial plan against school bullying, demonstrated that 5% of schoolchildren from CE2 to CM2, 6% of middle school students and 4% of high school students are considered victims of harassment, clarified the new minister during her first trip to a college in Reims (Marne).

“In a school environment, harassment is the act, for a student or a group of students, of repeatedly subjecting a classmate to negative or even violent comments or behavior”explains the National Education statistical service, which used a representative sample of 17,000 questionnaires submitted to a total of 7.5 million students from CE2 to final year.

An “annual barometer of harassment in schools”

The conclusions of the study reveal that a significant proportion of students must be subject to increased vigilance in the face of the risk of harassment, i.e. 19% of schoolchildren from CE2 to CM2, 6% of middle school students and 5% of high school students. .

This vast survey will now be carried out each year in the form of a “annual barometer of bullying in schools” intended to monitor the evolution of this phenomenon, announced the new Minister of National Education. In the event of discovery of a risky situation via the questionnaire, “a new individual self-assessment during which anonymity will be lifted, with the parents’ agreement” will be decided, the ministry said.