A video showing a preschool teacher beating a three-year-old child in class in France has sparked a wave of indignation on Tuesday after the footage of the incident went viral.
Advertisement
The video, filmed by a parent present at the school in central Paris, shows a girl standing next to a knocked-over chair and crying. The teacher approaches the young child, then grabs the girls’ arm, yanks her around and slaps her hard on the back. The girl then runs away, and the teacher goes about her usual business in class.
“These images are terribly shocking and unacceptable in our schools,” French Education Minister Nicole Belloubet said on X, adding she had “immediately” ordered the teacher’s suspension and disciplinary proceedings against her.
The incident happened on September 3, the day after French pupils returned to school after the summer break.
A lawyer for the girl’s family, Vanessa Edberg, said the three-year-old had told her mother that she had already been beaten the previous day.