 The French government will widen restrictions on religious clothing in schools to include the abaya, a long outer garment worn by some Muslim women. Education minister Gabriel Attal announced the plans today ahead of the new academic year starting in September. Making the announcement in an interview, he told television channel TF1: 'When you walk into a classroom, you shouldn't be able to identify the pupil's religion just by looking at them.' He later said at a news conference: 'Our schools are continually put under test, and over the past few months, breaches to laicite [secularism] have increased considerably, in particular with (pupils) wearing religious attire like abayas and kameez.' France has enforced strict policies on religious clothing and symbols in schools since the 19th century. The laws were initially introduced to curtail the influence of the Catholic church over the country's education system. But in recent years, changes have increasingly been made in order to also exclude traditional Islamic attire. Attal added at a later press conference that French schools have been 'continually put under test' by 'breaches' of secularism (Picture: AFP) The forthcoming ban on the abaya follows after the 2004 prohibition of headscarves in schools and full face veils in public places (Picture: Apaydin Alain/ABACA/Shutterstock) In 2004, the government made the decision to ban schoolchildren from wearing headscarves. This in turn prefigured a ban on full face veils in public spaces, which followed in 2010 despite outcry from the country's five-million strong Muslim community. Strict secularism nevertheless enjoys widespread support in France. Many therefore welcomed the recent move. Didier Georges, national secretary of the SNPDEN-UNSA union of school principals, told Reuters: 'What we wanted from mini){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
The French government will widen restrictions on religious clothing in schools to include the abaya, a long outer garment worn by some Muslim women.
Education minister Gabriel Attal announced the plans today ahead of the new academic year starting in September.
Making the announcement in an interview, he told television channel TF1: ‘When you walk into a classroom, you shouldn’t be able to identify the pupil’s religion just by looking at them.’
He later said at a news conference: ‘Our schools are continually put under test, and over the past few months, breaches to laicite [secularism] have increased considerably, in particular with (pupils) wearing religious attire like abayas and kameez.’