A total of 298 students went to schools on Tuesday, the first day of the school year, dressed in the Muslim abaya, a female garment banned for the first time in schools in France.
The figure was released by the Minister of Education, Gabriel Attal, who, in statements to the BFM television channel, affirmed that French schools began today “a phase of awareness, pedagogy and dialogue” on the issue of the use of the abaya.
Although most ended up taking off their clothes, 67 refused, being forced to return home.
The government announced last month that it would ban the abaya in schools, claiming it violated rules on secularism in education, which already prohibited the Muslim headscarf as a manifestation of religious belief.
The Minister of Education also stated that he signed a letter addressed to the families of the students who returned home “explaining that secularism is not an act of coercion.”
The governor also promises a “new dialogue” if any of these girls return to school wearing the abaya.
The abaya is a traditional Muslim garment that covers a woman from head to toe.
Conservative voices, such as Republican Party leader Eric Ciotti, supported the move, while other politicians, including the far-right Eric Zemmour, said it was “a good first step” but urged further progress. for example towards the “generalization” of compulsory uniforms.
The Socialist Party, for its part, regretted that the start of the school year was overshadowed by a problem that it considers, in any case, minor, but, for Jean-Luc Mélenchon, from A France Insubmissa (LFI), it is about a matter of “an absurd new religious war”, waged in an “artificial” way.
On Monday, President Emmanuel Macron defended the controversial measure, stating that there is a “minority” in France that “hijacks a religion and defies the republic and secularism”, causing “the worst consequences”, such as the murder, three years ago. , from teacher. Samuel Paty for showing cartoons of Muhammad during a civics class.
“We cannot act as if the terrorist attack, the murder of Samuel Paty, did not happen,” he said in an interview with the YouTube channel HugoDecrypte.
An association representing Muslims has filed a motion with the Council of State, France’s highest court for complaints against state authorities, seeking an injunction against the ban on the abaya and qamis, their equivalent for men.
The Action for Muslim Rights (ADM) motion will be heard on Tuesday.
A law introduced in March 2004 prohibited “the use of signs or clothing by which students ostensibly indicate a religious affiliation” in schools.
Unlike scarves, abayas were a gray area and had not, until now, been the subject of a total ban.
Source: TSF
