Teacher suspended after shocking acts on three-year-old girl

A shocking scene unfolded at a nursery school in the 15th arrondissement of Paris on Tuesday 3 September. A teacher who had been in post for twenty years was filmed hitting a three-year-old girl on the lower back, causing her to fall, before spraying water in her face. The incident, immortalised by a parent present, quickly made the rounds on social networks.

At the request of the Ministry of Education, the teacher was suspended from her duties. Nicole Belloubet, the resigning Education Minister, reacted on X, describing the images as ‘terribly shocking and unacceptable’.

The child’s family, represented by lawyer Vanessa Edberg, took the case to court. ‘The mother reacted with great dignity’, said the lawyer. A criminal investigation and an administrative enquiry are under way to shed full light on the case.

Outside the school, parents who had seen the video were stunned. According to the rector of Paris, Bernard Beignier, the teacher’s disciplinary record was previously clean. The teacher tried to explain her behaviour by citing overcrowding in her class. To support the families, a crisis centre has been set up and the parents were received on Tuesday afternoon.