Muslim leaders say the abaya is not a religious symbol, but a traditional Arab garment that can be worn by both Muslim and non-Muslim women. Credit : ELIOT BLONDET/AFP
The full-length abaya was banned from French public schools, angering Muslim leaders and rekindling the debate about French secularism.
Gabriel Attal, newly appointed Minister of the National Education of France, announced that students would be prohibited from wearing the abaya with the kamis, the long tunic worn by men.
“When you enter a classroom, you should not be able to tell the students' religion by looking at them,” Mr. Attal said in a TF1 TV interview.
French law bans religious symbols such as the cross, kippah and the Islamic hijab, in public schools and schools. government buildings as part of a constitution separating church and state.
But leaders of the Muslim community criticized the decision, saying that the abaya is not a religious symbol, but a traditional Arab dress that can be worn by both Muslim and non-Muslim women.
“There is no reference text. Islam causes any «abaya», says a statement released by the French Council of the Muslim Faith.
The ban on non-religious clothing constitutes a «dangerous and discriminatory precedent» and risks blurring the line between abayas and «wearing any long dress at school,» the statement goes on to say.
Gabriel Attal, the country's education minister, announced that students would be banned from wearing the abaya along with the kamis, the long tunic worn by men. Photo: BERTRAND GUE/AFP
Over the past year, school principals have asked the government for recommendations on wearing the abaya.
According to Le Monde, during the 2022-2023 school year, the government received 4,710 reports of incidents that violate French secularism in schools, more than double the number of reports received a year earlier.
Mr. Attal defended his position. decision during a press conference emphasizing that the abaya «has no place in public schools» and that French secularism must be supported.
The SNPDEN-UNSA educational union applauded the government for its «clarity and courage» and Republican leader Eric Ciotti also backed the decision, calling the abaya a form of communitarianism that is itself «a leprosy that threatens the republic.»
However, the policy drew strong condemnation from the left, who called it Islamophobic and unconstitutional.
Clementine Autin of La France Insoumise (LFI) described the move as further evidence of the government's «obsessive rejection» of Muslims.»
p>“Misplaced Priority.”
Tomas Portes, a fellow LFI MP, called the announcement an inappropriate priority.
“Families are not worried about clothes, but about whether they can buy school supplies,” tweeted Mr. Portes.
“The Islamophobic abaya controversy started by Gabriel Attalus is a response to the political agenda. , that is, the extreme right. This is unworthy.”
Mr. Attal's first major step as Minister of Education is in line with the President's repeated insistence on the need to restore authority and reinforce French values in the classroom.
During the course of the conversation about the mostly minor riots this summer, Emmanuel Macron lamented what he called the loss of civility among French youth and said he wanted to make weekly readings and debates about French values an integral part of the curriculum.< /p>
«The school is at the center of the battle for the nation,» he told Le Point.
Secularism in public schools has become a hot topic since the 2020 murder of Samuel Patey, a high school teacher who was beheaded by an Islamist terrorist after as he showed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed during a civics class on freedom of speech.
Свежие комментарии