Paris Prosecutors Investigate Over 100 Allegations of Violence and Sexual Assault by School Monitors

Paris prosecutors and police are investigating more than 100 allegations of physical violence, mistreatment, and sexual assault involving school monitors overseeing young children in nurseries, daycare centers, and primary schools across the city.

“A rare public trial opens in Paris child abuse case as parents seek a national wake-up call Parents’ groups in France are calling for more attention to child abuse scandals as a rare public trial opens in Paris PARIS -- Parents’ groups in France called Tuesday for more attention to long-ignored child abuse scandals as a rare public trial opened of a school assistant accused of sexually assaulting nine small children in Paris”

ABC News

Paris’s top prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, said, "We have investigations under way in 84 preschools, about 20 primary schools and about 10 daycare centres," as the scandal centers on adults responsible for children during lunch breaks, nap times, and after-school activities.

ABC News

A rare public trial opened in Paris for a school assistant accused of sexually assaulting nine small children between August 2024 and April 2025, with the defendant facing up to 10 years in prison.

The accused, who has not been publicly identified, is accused of assaulting children while supervising them in bathrooms, during lunch breaks and in after-school care, and he has denied any sexual abuse against children.

Outside the courtroom, parents and activists gathered with a message that "there needs to be a national wake-up call at some point," as they sought attention for what they described as long-ignored abuse allegations.

Parents’ groups said the trial is meant to force authorities to act, after the Paris case emerged in April 2025 when several children told their parents they allegedly had been sexually abused at a nursery school.

Barka Zerouali, co-founder of parents' group MeToo Ecole, said at a protest outside the courthouse that "there needs to be a national wake-up call at some point," while ABC News reported that the defendant faces up to 10 years in prison and has denied the accusations.

El Mundo

Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire pledged a 20 million euro plan and said he would immediately suspend any school employee suspected of abusing children, framing the crisis as a "major dysfunction" in the city’s school supervision system.

The Associated Press reported that between the beginning of 2026 and the time of the trial, Paris suspended 78 school and after-school staff members, including 31 over suspicions of sexual violence.

The Guardian also quoted lawyer Florian Lastelle saying, "It’s a massive scandal," as he described recruitment and checking failures that he said allowed abuse to continue.

As investigations continue across 84 preschools, about 20 primary schools and about 10 daycare centres, the scandal is also tied to specific court timelines, including a trial set to begin next week for a monitor accused of sexually abusing five children aged between three and five.

“Beaten, starved, raped: Wave of child abuse scandal rocks over 100 French school Prosecutors say investigations are now under way involving 84 preschools, around 20 primary schools and nearly 10 daycare centres across the capital”

India Today

A verdict is expected next month in a separate case involving a 47-year-old school monitor accused of sexually abusing nine 10-year-old girls, while prosecutors’ work is described as examining more than 100 allegations of mistreatment, physical violence and rape of children as young as three.

Lawyer Louis Cailliez described a case in which a three-year-old boy became so distressed at the school gates that he refused to go in, and Cailliez said, "The headteacher had to come out to force the child into school" while neither the boy’s mother nor the headteacher knew why.

The Guardian reported that between January and April, Paris city hall suspended 78 school monitors, including 31 suspected of sexual abuse, and it said Grégoire disclosed he was sexually abused as a child by a school monitor.

Radio France reported that on February 12, 2026, 73 parents filed a complaint against X to obtain guarantees that their children are safe in the public school, and it said a week later 242 parents signed a letter to address Emmanuel Macron on the same topic.