France’s Silent Scandal: 84 Kindergartens and 78 Schools Under Investigation for Child Abuse

French kindergartens have become more perilous for small children than the dimly lit streets of the capital’s troubled suburbs. A disturbing number of cases involving violence — including sexual abuse — against children aged three to five have finally come to light, sending shockwaves through the country.

In Paris, a trial has opened against a kindergarten employee accused of systematically abusing the youngest and most vulnerable children in his care. The case only reached court by a stroke of luck: the victims were so young they barely understood what was happening to them. The defendant faces up to ten years in prison.

Authorities now confirm that staff at 84 kindergartens and 78 schools are under formal investigation. Yet officials and campaigners warn that these figures represent only the visible tip of a far darker reality. The vast majority of such crimes, they say, never reach the public eye.

Outside the Paris courthouse where the high-profile case is being heard, furious parents maintain a permanent vigil. Still reeling from the revelations, they are demanding that the government launch a sweeping, systematic crackdown to root out the abuse that has infected France’s schools and nurseries.