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.
I said nothing about whether France is secular or not. I said it is fascist.
Yes it is.
Really admire your whataboutism. “France isn’t fascist! Look, other countries do bad thing! That proves France not fascist!”. Do you hear yourself? And this isn’t beginning to address what a ridiculous claim that is, but I don’t want to fall for your goalpost moving.
Bro this “whataboutism” is just a poor excuse for muslims to try to enforce their facist politics into others.
You know what the difference is between France and Islamic countries is? Here I will make it simple to you:
France is not killing people based in their politics. Islamic countries are.
France is not forcing people to be dressed how they want. On the contrary they are enforcing freedom of wearing whatever people want. That includes forcing groups that are forcing women to cover themselves to stop it.
One has to be intolerant of intolerance to be tolerant.
That is a deflection of the entire discussion. I will be happy to talk with you about Muslim countries and who France is killing overseas, once we’re done talking about France’s fascism. Please stop deflecting.
They literally are forcing a specific type of dress, and banning others. Would you like me to directly quote it? It’s very easy to Google this, but if you want me to quote it and directly cite it, I will.
There’s nothing intolerant about someone wearing something to school. But it is intolerant to single them out and bar tbem from education because of it.
I said Muslim is a fascist religion, and you said it is not. So, I gave you examples of why Muslim and Islamic countries are actually Fascists. Ill gladly hear why you think Muslim is not Fascist, or why you think France is Fascist and Muslim is not.
Yes, I will gladly read about France enforcing a specific type of dress. They are not banning dresses, they are banning opressive groups telling girls how to dress, because yes, France is enforcing a freedom of dress, and that means telling opressing groups that they cannot force women to dress how they want.
It is not just “wearing something to school”, thats not want france is banning right here. They are banning oppresive groups telling girls and women how to dress. That is literally the whole point. Opressive groups tell women/girls how to dress, then they act surprised when they are told that they cannot do that, “but they are targeting us!!”, yes, stop telling people what to wear. Period.