“Omerta”, “systemic dysfunctions”, “concealed reports” : the failures of extracurriculars, revealed Thursday January 29 in a “Cash investigation”on France 2, stunned several candidates for Paris City Hall.
The survey, which focuses on the working conditions of animators, highlights the low pay, the part-time work experience and the hasty schedules, while more than five million children are welcomed every day in after-school activities.
We see in particular testimonies from parents whose reports of suspicious behavior by facilitators are not taken into account, but also the absence of a recruitment framework or even inappropriate behavior by facilitators, including one who kissed a child on the mouth in a nursery school in the 7th arrondissement of Paris.
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“Unacceptable behavior”
“The images, filmed on a hidden camera, show unacceptable behavior towards children”reacted in a press release the mayor (Les Républicains) of this district, Rachida Dati, also a candidate for Paris City Hall. She denounces “the omerta” as well as “systemic dysfunctions” which continue and call for a global investigation into all of Parisian extracurricular activities, an emergency plan to deal with the increase in attacks on children and a global overhaul of educational, recreational and childcare activities organized by the municipality.
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For her part, the candidate of La France insoumise (LFI) in the municipal elections of March 15 and 22, Sophia Chikirou, says she has tabled a proposed resolution for a parliamentary inquiry at the request of parents, in order to “shedding light on the after-school system in Paris and throughout France”. “Who are those responsible? Why were the alerts never acted upon? »she asks.
On the subject of the Baudin nursery school, in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, of which a former leader will be tried in May for sexual assault on five children, the first deputy, Patrick Bloche, interviewed by France 2, recognizes a “major dysfunction in the reporting process (…) which was done to an agent who did not put it together”.
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“Shock and anger at the “Cash investigation” investigation”reacted for his part Emmanuel Grégoire, candidate in Paris of the union of the left outside LFI. “The violent situations mentioned are unbearable. Failures in the supervision of children and in the handling of reported cases are unacceptable”recognized the MP (Socialist Party), who himself revealed having been the victim of sexual violence in extracurricular settings during his childhood. “We need to review everything: procedures, controls, supervision, the very culture of an institution which can generate a form of mistreatment when alerts are not processed quickly enough”he added.
