Sexual violence: publication of the decree on the questionnaire for schoolchildren

The decree relating to the annual questionnaire put in place in schools to identify victims of sexual violence among students was published on Thursday.

This decree, which will come into force on Friday, “requires in particular public and private establishments under contract to offer students questionnaires aimed at improving the prevention, detection and management of situations of violence of a sexist or sexual nature and to improve knowledge of situations of school harassment”.

This summer, the Minister of Education Édouard Geffray announced the addition of questions on sexual violence to the annual questionnaire on school harassment, speaking of potentially “seismic results, because the phenomenon is massive”. At the end of September, he detailed the terms of this new system, which must be distributed from the beginning of November from the main nursery section to the final year, with the content of the questionnaire varying depending on the age of the students.

“We will try to get a large part of the students through by December, and that will probably be done in January-February,” the minister said at the end of September. This questionnaire must be offered “at least once per school year (...) from their enrollment in the main nursery class until the end of their secondary education.” Students “who wish” will respond “as part of sexuality education sessions”. Providing the student's first and last name is optional.

“The responses to the questionnaires are examined by members of staff designated by the school principal or head of establishment,” specifies the decree. In the event that the questionnaire is nominative, it will be examined by “a member of staff trained for this purpose” and being either a medical staff, nurse, social worker or psychologist. In the event of a “situation likely to reveal sexist or sexual violence, the student concerned is interviewed,” specifies the decree.

If such a situation emerges in a non-nominative questionnaire, “a specific information and awareness action is organized within the class or establishment”. The same system is provided in the event of a “situation likely to reveal acts of school harassment”, details the decree, which also specifies the methods of processing the data collected.