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Porn scandal sees Paris school ban smartphones

A prestigious Paris secondary school has been forced to ban pupils from using mobile phones after several boys began groping girls after reportedly watching online porn on their smartphones.

Published: 7 July 2015 12:21 CEST
Porn scandal sees Paris school ban smartphones

When pupils at the posh Montaigne secondary school, located on the edge of the Jardin de Luxembourg, return to school in September, they will have to do without their smartphones.

Or at least they won't be allowed to use them on school premises and anyone caught doing so will be punished.

That's because school bosses have taken the rather draconian step of banning phones after the school was hit by scandal earlier this year.

In May, six schoolboys from Montaigne's middle school (collége) had to be disciplined, after it was alleged they had groped girls in the school's toilets after watching pornographic films on their smartphones during their lunch breaks.
 
A specialist police unit in charge of protecting children opened a probe into sexual harassment, following the reports.
 
In a letter to the school's authorities, a mother of one of the victims said that her daughter and others were “insecure both physically and psychologically” after the abuse, in which she said the boys, aged ten and 11 had fondled the girls' breasts, buttocks, and vaginas.
 
 
One girl at the school in Paris's chic 6th arrondissement returned home to tell her parents how she knew the boys were watching “borno” at school, reported French newspaper Le Parisien. 
 
Another parent said that he had become aware that the boys, aged ten and 11, had been using an iPhone 6 to watch videos on porn streaming website YouPorn. 
 
The reports made headline news and prompted concern across France around the potential dangers of porn and from allowing children to take mobile phones into schools.
 
François Bayrou, the president of the centrist Democratic Movement called for a ban on smartphones at schools or at least during lunch breaks, which he referred to as a “common sense measure” that would reduce the risk of such abuse occurring again. 
 
Sociologist Michel Fize chimed in on the topic for the Le Figaro newspaper, lamenting the fact that internet was creeping into the daily lives people at younger and younger ages, seemingly serving as a “justification for behavioural excess”.
 
“The fondlers were quick to say that their assaults were 'just for fun',” he wrote. “It's terrible to consider their lack of understanding about the gravity of their actions.”
 
Smartphones are already forbidden during class hours across France, but students are allowed to use them during their breaks. 
 
Parents group at Montaigne have backed the move and said it was now up to parents to “take their responsibilities”.
 
 

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SCHOOL

Bavaria plans 100 million rapid Covid tests to allow all pupils to return to school

In the southern state of Bavaria, schools have been promised 100 million self-tests starting next week so that more children can start being taught in person again. But teachers say the test strategy isn't being implemented properly.

Published: 12 March 2021 17:12 CET
Bavaria plans 100 million rapid Covid tests to allow all pupils to return to school
Children in the classroom in Bavaria. Photo:Matthias Balk/DPA

State leaders Markus Söder said on Friday that the first 11 million of the DIY tests had already arrived and would now be distributed through the state.

“It’s no good in the long run if the testing for the school is outside the school,” Söder told broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) during a visit to a school in Nuremberg.

“Contrary to what has been planned in Berlin, we’ve pre-ordered in Bavaria: for this year we have 100 million tests.”

Bavaria, Germany’s largest state in terms of size, plans to bring all children back into schools starting on Monday.

SEE ALSO: ‘The right thing to do’ – How Germany is reopening its schools

However, high coronavirus case rates mean that these plans have had to be shelved in several regions.

In Nuremberg, the state’s second largest city, primary school children have been sent back into distance learning after just a week back in the classroom.

The city announced on Friday that schools would have to close again after the 7-day incidence rose above 100 per 100,000 inhabitants.

The nearby city of Fürth closed its schools after just two days of classroom time on Wednesday, after the 7-day incidence rose to 135.

The Bavarian test strategy plans for school children to receive one test per week, while teachers have the possibility of taking two tests a week. The testing is not compulsory.

But teachers’ unions in the southern state have warned that the test capacity only exists on paper and have expressed concern that their members will become infected in the workplace.

“Our teachers are afraid of infection,” Almut Wahl, headmistress of a secondary school in Munich, told BR24.

“Officially they are allowed to be tested twice a week, we have already received a letter about this. But the tests are not there.”

BR24 reports that, contrary to promises made by the state government, teachers in many schools have still not been vaccinated, ventilation systems have not been installed in classrooms, and the test infrastructure has not been put in place.

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