A French teacher is under investigation after hitting a three-year-old girl at a Paris nursery school.
The teacher also sprayed the toddler with an unidentified liquid in the classroom as she screamed for her mother.
The violent images were secretly captured by one of the mothers of the children on September 3, the second day of school at the Frères-Voisins school in the city’s 15th arrondissement.
The video was later made public by Vanessa Edberg, a lawyer representing the girl’s parents.
French citizens were shocked after a video of a preschool teacher beating a 3-year-old child in a Paris classroom went viral on social media
In the clip, an unidentified female teacher can be seen standing over the screaming child before hitting her on the back and causing her to fall to the floor.
The girl can then be heard crying and saying, “Mommy!” after being sent to the corner.
“As a lawyer I will fight this battle hand in hand with the family; as a mother my heart bleeds,” Edberg wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).
The teacher also “sprayed an unidentified product” on the girl’s face, according to the lawyer.
After the spraying of the liquid, the teacher says, “There, does that feel good there?” and threatens the child: “You’ll see, your dad will come back when I tell him.”
The behavior was not an isolated incident according to the girl’s family, who decided to place a hidden camera to confirm their suspicions
Edberg shared that the girl’s family was left “extremely traumatized” and has filed a complaint with the police.
That wasn’t the first time the girl had suffered physical violence at school. Speaking with Le Parisien, her father said, “My daughter had been hit before; that’s why she was having a crisis, and the mother who was there decided to film discreetly.
“We went straight to file a complaint,” he added.
The family’s older son was also “pushed by this teacher” when he was in her class two years ago.
On Tuesday (September 10), the day when the teacher was to be interviewed by the police, she was reportedly placed “on sick leave.”
Philippe Goujon, the Mayor of the 15th arrondissement in Paris, informed the public that the teacher had since been fired and replaced.
“It is completely unbearable; this behavior is unspeakable, coming from a confirmed teacher who had already been in this school for ten years,” Goujon said.
France’s authorities ordered the teacher’s suspension immediately as investigations on the incident are underway
Nicole Belloubet, the resigning Minister of National Education, said on Tuesday (September 10) that she was “extremely shocked” by the events.
Following the complaint filed by the family in Issy-les-Moulineaux, the Nanterre public prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation. In France, aggravated assault on a child is an imprisonable offense.
The head of the school, Bernard Beignier, indicated that the teacher will be “summoned in the coming days to be heard.”
The teacher is “in shock” and “deeply regrets” her violent behavior, her lawyer told BFMTV.
She has “admitted the facts and apologized to the girl’s family,” said Beignier.
Medical experts believe the girl was left traumatized by the events, and warn that the healing process might take some time
The girl has already seen a doctor, who “assessed her psychological harm as severe.”
“The little girl does not look others in the eye or face to face and refuses to talk about the teacher,” shared Edberg.
“It will take time and specialists to get her back on her feet.”
Her mother explained that the child is “disturbed and anxious” and that she has not, to date, returned to class.
“Should go to prison,” wrote one commenter, as others joined in to call for justice to be done
