The Ministry of National Education reviews its questionnaire on gender-based and sexual violence

The Ministry of National Education will review its questionnaire on sexist and sexual violence which must be distributed next November to the 11 million students from the main section to the final year, according to information from France Culture, Friday September 11. Supposed to be submitted to the vote of the Higher Education Council next Thursday (September 17), this questionnaire and its methods of administration to students will finally be submitted for validation later, on October 1, France Culture learned from those close to the Ministry of National Education.

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The working version of the questionnaires presented this week, which France Culture was able to consult, gave rise to reservations or disapproval from trade union organizations and parent federations, both in substance and form. They asked that the copy be reviewed in depth and they were therefore heard.

“In the same sentence, two different experiences”

Regarding their well-being and safety, students must for example choose between two answers: "I feel comfortable and safe at school", or "I feel comfortable and safe at home and in other places I go". “There are two different things in the same sentence,” criticizes Aurelie Gagnier, school teacher, national co-secretary and spokesperson for the FSU-SNUipp union. For a child, “he has, in the same sentence, two different experiences. This will raise questions,” warns the teacher. Another problem raised: students will not be required to write their first name on the questionnaire.

The methods of distribution to students also worry National Education staff. The document in preparation stipulates that this questionnaire must be offered at the end of a session of education in emotional and relational life in the first degree (Evar), or education in emotional and sexual relational life in the second degree (Evars). The nurses need “one hour per class”, specifies Saphia Guereschi, school nurse and general secretary of Snics-FSU, who emphasizes: “There are not enough of us!”. Once the questionnaires have been analyzed, there must be, without delay, an interview with the student in the event of suspicion of sexual violence. Saphia Guereschi therefore calls for "serious training to be up to the challenges" and calls for "thinking about the means by which the school can accommodate this speech".