The Ministry of the Interior has requested in certain academies an “assessment of the rate of absenteeism observed on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr” but denies any “recording”, said Sunday the Secretary of State responsible for citizenship Sonia Backès faced with the indignation aroused by the initiative.
“The Ministry of the Interior and Overseas regularly studies the impact of certain religious holidays on the functioning of public services, and in particular within the school sphere”, indicated Ms. Backès in a press release.
“It is in this context that an assessment of the absenteeism rate observed on the occasion of the Eid al-Fitr holiday, on April 21, was requested, in certain academies, from the heads of establishment,” the statement said.
“No nominative data was neither requested nor recorded at any time”, specified Ms. Backès who affirms that the initiative did not come from a desire to “file” students according to their confession.
In the Toulouse academy, police asked the heads of Toulouse schools, by email, to tell them the number of students absent on the day of Eid al-Fitr.
Association, union or political leaders were worried about this police initiative, some like the former socialist deputy Jean-Christophe Cambadelis evoking “a file in the whole of the city”.
The request from the police is “particularly shocking in that it associates Muslim religious practice with a question of security”, indicated SOS Racisme, recalling that the request to schools came from the departmental directorate of public security. (DDSP).
Later on Sunday, the association reacted to Mrs. Backès’ press release by accusing the Ministry of the Interior of showing “guilty casualness when it comes to explaining an act which falls within (… ) of an instruction issued by him”.
“For what other religious holidays has the Ministry of the Interior requested an assessment of the rate of absenteeism from the heads of establishments”, wondered the association in its press release.
The president of SOS Racisme, Dominique Sopo, also castigated a logic of “concealment” of the intentions of the Ministry of the Interior.
The Sud Education union for its part denounced “Islamophobic excesses” in the administration.
“AESH colleagues and agents were refused leave of absence”, for the day of the party, unlike teachers, he also indicated.
The Union of Mosques of France for its part asked for a “proper investigation”
“Families must be duly informed and reassured of the future of the information given by certain heads of establishments having, unfortunately, responded to the request of the police”, estimated the Union of Mosques of France.
The request of the police had been made directly to the establishments concerned, without the approval of the rectorate of Toulouse. “Under no circumstances are we carrying out investigations of this kind,” Mostafa Fourar, rector of the academy, told AFP.
A source close to the case had mentioned to AFP a “clumsiness” in the formulation of the request relayed by the police officers of National Education for the benefit of territorial intelligence.
05/22/2023 01:28:14 – Paris (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
