In a video posted on social networks, Emmanuel Macron films himself in selfie mode and assures schoolchildren who are victims of school bullying of his support.
Some 12 million students returned to school on Thursday. The Head of State filmed himself from the Elysée to send them a message and mobilize against school harassment. The video patch begins with a slew of insults and a sad observation by Emmanuel Macron: “These insults, these threats, these insults, too many of you have heard them at school, suffer them on a daily basis. And when it’s over at school it goes back to social networks.
“I do not want to accept, any more than you, that this return to school tomorrow (Thursday, Ed) is synonymous with ordeal, that for far too many of you – nearly a million tell us the figures – resuming d “School means rediscovering these injustices, this daily violence and an impossible life”, continues the Head of State, whose wife Brigitte Macron is also very mobilized in this fight.
In this back-to-school video, the President of the Republic takes stock of the situation. Teachers and the entire educational sphere (educational advisers, heads of establishments) are trained “to detect and support”. A telephone number, 3020, is dedicated to bullying at school and 3018, as well as the application that goes with it, help to denounce harassment on social networks.
“We won’t give in”
“Do not accept anything, insists Emmanuel Macron facing the camera. The problem is on the side of those who insult you, attack you, make this life impossible for you. It is they who are in the wrong, it is you who are within your rights, it is you who must be helped in order to be respected. We won’t give anything up.”
It encourages schoolchildren who are victims of bullying to talk about it around them, to their parents, teachers, classmates. “Talk about it, denounce it. We won’t give up on those who make your life impossible at school and on the networks. School is for learning, not for having an impossible life without any justification. Those who do all this to you are wrong. Sometimes you also have to help them, explain to them in any case, you mustn’t let them do it and we won’t let them do it anymore.
After assuring them that they can count on him, he ends his message by wishing the students of France a good start to school.