"What I can tell you at this stage, in view of the information that has been communicated to me, is that over the 2022-2023 school year, 120 letters called + disapproval + have been sent," detailed the minister.
"55 of them seem to raise questions. And obviously work will continue to identify what led to the sending of these letters, and whether it was justified to send them or not, "he explained after a meeting with the rector of the academy of Versailles.
This letter had been described as a "shame" by Gabriel Attal, who announced the launch of an audit on the management of harassment cases during the last school year in each academy. The services of the Academy of Versailles and its former rector, Charline Avenel, who left in July, have since come under fire.
On Friday, the terms of another letter from the rectorate of Versailles, sent in May to parents who complained of sexual touching of their daughter, were also condemned by Gabriel Attal.
"Why I came here to Versailles, first to make transparency. What are we talking about? We are talking about a letter, called a letter of disapproval, which is addressed to people when there are threats, sometimes threats to the physical integrity of agents of national education, "said Gabriel Attal Monday.
In such a case, "obviously the institution has a vocation to stand by its agents and make it known," he added.
However, in this case "what happened is that there was an error, a fault, is that this letter was addressed to families who should not have received (it), in situations of school bullying, even sexual assault," continued the minister, referring to an incident "not acceptable".
An inter-ministerial plan on bullying is to be unveiled Wednesday by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne at a press conference.
© 2023 AFP