Amid a spike in youth violence, France is weighing sending young people seen as vulnerable to crime to boarding school, as a preventive measure and to provide educational support, as well as allow for swifter and more severe punishments.
"We need a boost in authority," said Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on Thursday in Viry-Châtillon.
France has been shaken by several incidences of youth violence, often occurring in lower-income suburban areas with a higher proportion of residents of foreign origin, marked by unemployment and struggling with crime.
Some have been fatal, such as the 15-year-old who was brutally beaten to death in April by young people in the Paris suburbs.
"Authority is being questioned all too often by a minority of our adolescents," said Attal, speaking of a spiral of unrestrained violence.
Young people must learn to respect the simple rules of the republic, values and duties again, he said. Parents should be held accountable for this, but should be supported if they are overwhelmed with raising their children.
One option would be to send difficult young people to boarding schools, he said. Before a young person slips into delinquency, the authorities would suggest parents send their child to a boarding school "far away from their neighbourhood and from the people who have led them astray," he said.
Attal, in office for 100 days, also announced a fight against drug trafficking and Islamist indoctrination in the impoverished suburbs on the outskirts of major French cities.
Young girls should be able to walk around without a headscarf or eat what they want without being attacked, he said, referring to a brutal attack on a 13-year-old girl in Montpellier.
Her mother later expressed the suspicion that the attack could be connected to the fact that her daughter does not wear a headscarf, unlike other Muslim schoolgirls.
He was also referring to an incident in Alsace, when a 13-year-old girl was beaten after leaving the school bus, allegedly as she did not fast during Ramadan.
Attal, who held the education portfolio before his appointment as prime minister, also said schools should be empowered in their mission to educate and mould young people. "The battle for authority is won in the classroom," said Attal.
Pupils should stand up when the teacher comes into the classroom, he said.
Pupils seen as notorious troublemakers will have this noted in their school reports, which are taken into account in the university application process, he added.