A total of 298 students went to school this Tuesday, on the first day of the school year, dressed in the Islamic abaya, a women’s garment banned for the first time in schools in France.
The figure was released by the Minister of Education, Gabriel Attal, who said in a conversation with the television channel BFM that French schools this Tuesday began “a phase of awareness, pedagogy and dialogue” on the issue of the use of the abaya.
“Most up to standard”said the minister.
Still, 67 students decided to return home, despite having to return in the next few days #because they have to go to school”.
“At that point we will see if they have adhered to the standard or not”added Attal.
The education minister also said he signed a letter to the families of the students returning home “explaining that secularism is not an act of coercion”.
The abaya is a traditional Islamic dress that covers women from head to toe.
The French government believes that the abaya is a religious symbol, used by students who want to identify themselves as Muslim.
France has for years banned the use of religious symbols in schools, and the widespread use of the abaya by Muslim students has prompted the Paris government to ban the garment from the school year that began this Tuesday. fair in the country.
French President Emmanuel Macron defended the ban on the abaya against “a minority that defies the secularity of the French school” and reaffirmed that the government intends to experiment with the use of uniforms.
“The school must remain neutral. I don’t know what your religion is and you don’t know what my religion is”Macron said in an interview with a popular YouTube channel that aired Tuesday.
Macron also said the abaya is a religious symbol used to identify Muslim students and warned that “in the struggle to preserve secularism, teachers and directors” of educational institutions cannot be abandoned.
‘We can’t pretend Samuel Paty’s murder didn’t happen’Macron said, referring to the French high school teacher who was killed in October 2020 for displaying a caricature of the Prophet Mohammed in a free speech lesson.
Macron also said the measure was not intended to “create parallels” or “stigmatize anyone” but underlined that “dust cannot be hidden under the carpet”.
The president also opposed the use in public schools of any piece of clothing he deemed “eccentric” and so stated that the government will experiment with the use of mandatory school uniforms or the implementation of dress codes.
Source: DN
