“Making a Republic does not mean prohibiting teenagers from choosing their clothing.” In a press release, the deputies of La Francia Insumisa (LFI) denounce once again the government’s decision to ban the use of the abaya, a long covering dress, in schools, and call for a demonstration on September 23.
On Thursday, the Council of State validated the ban on this garment, which according to it carries a “logic of religious affirmation” prohibited in educational establishments. This decision of the Council of State “feeds a liberticidal and authoritarian vision of pseudo-secularism that is being imposed in our country,” according to the statement from the rebel parliamentarians this Friday.
“We firmly reaffirm it: the decision of the Minister of National Education, Gabriel Attal, to prohibit students who wear these costumes from accessing schools is anti-secular, sexist and racist,” they criticize.
A demonstration on September 23.
The deputies believe that the State “cannot decide what is religious or not”, that the free will of young women is “denied” and that this measure “introduces a facial control at the entrance of establishments.”
They call to “reject division and stigmatization” during a demonstration on Saturday, September 23 originally announced by various parties, unions and associations against racism, police violence and for social justice.
On August 27, Gabriel Attal announced a ban on the wearing of the abaya in public schools, colleges and secondary schools. On Monday, about 300 students, of the 12 million who returned to school this week, showed up in front of their establishment in abaya and 67 of them refused to take it off, according to the education minister.
Validation of the Council of State
For the Council of State, this prohibition “does not constitute a serious and manifestly illegal attack on the right to respect for private life, freedom of religion, the right to education and respect for the best interests of the child or the principle of non-compliance.” -discrimination”.
In fact, the highest administrative court considered that the use of the abaya or qamis (its male equivalent) in school was “part of a logic of religious affirmation, as can be seen in particular from the statements made during the dialogues held with the students.” .
However, “the law prohibits, in public educational establishments, students from wearing signs or clothing that visibly demonstrate, by themselves or by the student’s behavior, their belonging to a religion,” the court recalls.
Source: BFM TV
