The Minister of National Education, Gabriel Attal, announced this Sunday August 27 on the TF1 channel that the use of the abaya, a long garment related to Islam, will be prohibited in schools in France, in the name of secularism.
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The use of the abaya will be banned in schools in France, announced the Minister of National Education, Gabriel Attal.
A decision taken in the name of secularism and intended to put an end to the controversies surrounding this long traditional garment worn by some Muslim students. “I have decided that the abaya can no longer be worn at school,” Attal declared on the night of Sunday, August 27, on the national channel ‘TF1’.
The minister, who since taking office this summer sought to be firm on issues of secularism, considered that attending school with an abaya was “a religious gesture that seeks to test the resistance of the Republic in the secular sanctuary that should be the school”, promising firmness in this regard.
“When you enter a classroom, you should not be able to identify the religion of the students by looking at them,” he explained on ‘TF1’ on Sunday.
The issue of this traditional garment has been sensitive, the French Council of Muslim Worship (CFCM) has considered that the abaya, a long garment that covers the body of the woman, is not a Muslim religious sign. Its use is “more ambiguous than a veil”, according to Haoues Seniguer, a professor at the IEP in Lyon and a specialist in Islamism.
In France, according to the law of March 15, 2004, “in schools, colleges and public high schools, the use of signs or clothing by which students ostensibly manifest a religious affiliation is prohibited”, a circular that specifies that these signs “the Islamic veil (…) the kippa or a cross of dimensions are clearly excessive.”
The Ministry of Education had already addressed the issue of the abaya in November, in a circular that considered this garment, as well as bandanas and long skirts, also mentioned, as garments that could be prohibited if worn “ostensibly to manifest a religious affiliation.
Gabriel Attal’s predecessor, Pap Ndiaye, questioned by the unions of school principals about the increase in incidents related to these garments, had refused to “publish endless catalogs to specify the length of the skirts.”
Meeting with school directors “next week”
According to a note from state services, of which Agence France-Presse (AFP) obtained a copy, violations of secularism, which have been much more numerous since the murder of teacher Samuel Paty near his school in 2020, increased 120% between the 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 school years. The use of symbols and clothing, which accounts for the majority of infractions, increased by more than 150% over the past school year.
The minister wanted to pay tribute this Sunday to the directors of educational establishments “who are on the front line in these issues of secularism” and promised to meet with them “next week (…) to provide them with all the tools so that they can enforce this rule ”.
“The instruction was not clear, now it is and we are happy about it,” Bruno Bokiewicz, general secretary of the National Union of National Education Managers, told AFP. “Now that the message has been announced, it needs to be implemented in the establishments (…) there should not be establishment managers facing the abayas alone.”
On the opposition side, the decision was applauded by the right, headed by Éric Ciotti (Los Republicanos, LR” on the X social network: “We have repeatedly asked for the ban on abayas in our schools. I applaud the minister’s decision of National Education that proves us right”.
Le communautarisme est une lèpre qui menace la République.
Nous avions réclamé à plusieurs reprises l’interdiction des abayas dans nos écoles.
I salute the decision of the Minister of National Education qui nous donne raison. https://t.co/Eyr3G4K4vt
—Eric Ciotti (@ECiotti) August 27, 2023
On the other hand, on the left, Clémentine Autain (France Unsubmissive, LFI) was outraged by the “clothing police”, considering Gabriel Attal’s announcement “unconstitutional”, “contrary to the founding principles of secularism. Symptomatic of the obsessive rejection of Muslims. Just started, the ‘macronía’ is already trying to get closer to the extreme right of Agrupación Nacional”.
The defense of secularism is a call for unity in France that resonates across the political spectrum, from a left that defends the values of the free development of personality, to far-right voters who say they seek barriers to the growing role of Islam. in French society.
*This article was adapted from its original in French
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