The nine year old, from the small village of Exaux-les-Bains in Creuse, central France, was accused of the incident by two of his female teachers at the beginning of April.

Police questioned the boy at his house, and transferred the case to the child prosecution service, who summoned him to court. On his papers, under the box marked ‘profession of defendant’, was written ‘schoolboy’.

The child prosecution service explained to daily paper Le Parisien that their decision to send the boy before a judge was to “pull his socks up”.

The boys family lawyer said: “The justice system is not there to make up for what is lacking in schools.

“This case being dropped is proof that wisdom and the law prevailed,” he added.

The boy’s father, who is a single parent and often works away from home, said: “My son doesn’t understand. He’s very anxious about it all. He feels all of this has been an injustice – as do I. I had already punished him as far as I could. It’s all so disproportionate.”

The boy and his brother will be attending a different school from September.