First day of school in France

First day of school in France: 67 girls sent home for refusing to comply with new school dress code. The ban on the abaya, a long tunic worn by Muslim women, has sparked a heated political debate around the country's secular values and discrimination against the Muslim community.

First day of school in France

The French government recently introduced a ban on Muslim women wearing the abaya, a long tunic in schools. The new policy went into effect on the first day of school, and 298 girls showed up in tunics. While most of these girls chose to change their clothes, 67 of them refused to comply with the new policy and went home. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, explained that the government is taking a more rigorous stance towards the Muslim community, stating that "the schools are secular and there is no place for religious symbols“..

As announced by the Minister of Education, Gabriel Attal, the majority of girls chosen not to wear the abaya, while a minority of them, especially the older girls attending secondary school, decided to oppose it and defend the values of their religion. Attal hopes that the new ban will soon be accepted by everyone: "In the next few days they will have to go back because they have to go to school and then we will see if they have complied with the new regulation, otherwise we will continue the dialogue with them". According to the minister, the value of secularism "would not be a constraint", but with the abaya or its male version it will still not be allowed to enter the classroom. The association for the rights of Muslims has appealed to the Council of State regarding the new ban on the abaya in French schools. A decision is pending, also considering the record times in which the measure was taken

French secularism divides the government

France banned religious symbols in schools since 2004, including crosses, Jewish kippahs and Islamic veils, in order to make the places of education secular. In 2010, the French government then introduced a law banning the burqa, the veil that completely covers the face, for reasons of national security. However, the latest measure banning the abaya has sparked a heated political debate on possible discrimination in towards the country's Muslim minority, which remains the most "Islamized" in Europe. According to government spokesman Olivier Véran, "wearing the abaya would be a political attack and an attempt to convert to Islam". Conversely, radical left MP Clémentine Autain criticized the new "clothes police", defining the ban as "an obsessive rejection of Muslims, a war of religion".

This decision is even more significant after Macron's law against Islamic separatism of 2020, which he himself motivated with the non-conformity between radical Islam and the secular values of the Republic. The issue of French secularism continues to divide the French government and the society, with conflicting views on the need to preserve the country's secular values and protect minority rights.

Editorial