Schoolgirls who refused to change out of the loose-fitting robes have been sent home with a letter to parents on secularism.


French public schools have sent dozens of girls home for refusing to remove their abayas – long, loose-fitting robes worn by some Muslim women and girls – on the first day of the school year, according to Education Minister Gabriel Attal.

Defying a ban on the garment seen as a religious symbol, nearly 300 girls showed up on Monday morning wearing abayas, Attal told the BFM broadcaster on Tuesday.

Most agreed to change out of the robe, but 67 refused and were sent home, he said.

The government announced last month it was banning the abaya in schools, saying it broke the rules on secularism in education that have already seen headscarves forbidden on the grounds they constitute a display of religious affiliation.

The move gladdened the political right but the hard left argued it represented an affront to civil liberties.

The 34-year-old minister said the girls refused entry on Monday were given a letter addressed to their families saying that “secularism is not a constraint, it is a liberty”.

If they showed up at school again wearing the gown there would be a “new dialogue”.

He added that he was in favour of trialling school uniforms or a dress code amid the debate over the ban.

Uniforms have not been obligatory in French schools since 1968 but have regularly come back on the political agenda, often pushed by conservative and far-right politicians.

Attal said he would provide a timetable later this year for carrying out a trial run of uniforms with any schools that agree to participate.

“I don’t think that the school uniform is a miracle solution that solves all problems related to harassment, social inequalities or secularism,” he said.

But he added: “We must go through experiments, try things out” in order to promote debate, he said.


‘Worst consequences’

Al Jazeera’s Natacha Butler, reporting from Paris before the ban came into force said Attal deemed the abaya a religious symbol which violates French secularism.

“Since 2004, in France, religious signs and symbols have been banned in schools, including headscarves, kippas and crosses,” she said.

“Gabriel Attal, the education minister, says that no one should walk into a classroom wearing something which could suggest what their religion is.”

On Monday, President Emmanuel Macron defended the controversial measure, saying there was a “minority” in France who “hijack a religion and challenge the republic and secularism”.

He said it leads to the “worst consequences” such as the murder three years ago of teacher Samuel Paty for showing Prophet Muhammad caricatures during a civics education class.

“We cannot act as if the terrorist attack, the murder of Samuel Paty, had not happened,” he said in an interview with the YouTube channel, HugoDecrypte.

An association representing Muslims has filed a motion with the State Council, France’s highest court for complaints against state authorities, for an injunction against the ban on the abaya and the qamis, its equivalent dress for men.

The Action for the Rights of Muslims (ADM) motion is to be examined later on Tuesday.


  • GrumpigPoopBalls [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    wearing them makes them different. In French culture wearing them is not something French people would do

    hitler-detector

    This is just a (not very) roundabout way of saying that you’re upset that brown people live in France. Nobody is saying that non-Muslim French people not wearing them is Islamophobia, just that this reaction is very obviously rooted in racism and Islamophobia.

    • usernamesaredifficul [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      Also if the girls are born and raised in France whatever they do is what French people do.

      The French idea of nationhood whereby everyone has to conform to just one set of ethno-religious traditions is stuck in the 19th century

    • zikk_transport2@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      I don’t understand. So France is islamic country? Or islamic and non-islamic country? Afaik majority of France population does not follow islam, or am I wrong here?

      This is just a (not very) roundabout way of saying that you’re upset that brown people live in France.

      Are you trying to force me to be racist or what are your intentions? We are discussing about culture of islamic countries vs non-islamic and respect for each other. You should focus more on the discussion rather than me.

      I’ll mention it again - I am talking about girls, who should respect local culture and not wear a hijab. Where do you see racism/islamophobia?

      Let me call it the other way - lady tourists, when visiting islamic country, should wear cultural clothing to show respect for islamic culture. What are you gonna say about this statement?

      • usernamesaredifficul [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        I don’t understand. So France is islamic country? Or islamic and non-islamic country? Afaik majority of France population does not follow islam, or am I wrong here?

        people can and should be allowed to be members of minority ethnicities and religions and practice their religion and culture without being impeded by the state

        Are you trying to force me to be racist or what are your intentions

        no man you’re doing that on your own

        I am talking about girls, who should respect local culture and not wear a hijab. Where do you see racism/islamophobia?

        in the position that everyone should be forced to conform to the native culture. Glad to clear up the confusion