The French education minister says he has no evidence to confirm claims by a predecessor that paedophile teachers used to be sent discreetly to overseas territories.
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Segolene Royal made the claim in a television interview a month ago, saying when she became a minister she tackled a taboo subject within the education system.
Ms Royal said she was threatened for raising the subject of children committing suicide as a result of such abuse, adding that to avoid scandal, offending teachers were sent far away.
In the French National Assembly, the current education minister, Jean-Michel Blanquer, was asked who and where these teachers were.
He said he understood the concerns but said by law no convicted paedophile was allowed to work in the education system.
Mayors in French Guyana have written an open letter to the French president Emmanuel Macron asking for an urgent investigation.
France's overseas territories include New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna.
Ms Royal raised the issue regarding paedophiles amid a debate over the decades-long abuses by acclaimed writer Gabriel Matzneff.