“What creates the conflict is the blurring of the rule. ” For the Minister of National Education and Youth, Gabriel Attal, the ban on clothing such as the abaya or the qamis (long tunic worn by boys) should allow heads of establishments “to have a line clearer at the national level”. Until now, they had a margin of interpretation, the abaya being tolerated in certain colleges and high schools, and banned in others.
“In the vast majority of cases things will be settled, from the first days, through dialogue,” said Gabriel Attal. However, so that no school head finds himself “alone in the face of conflicting situations”, “human support” is planned for the start of the school year. “It will be more difficult for certain establishments”, admits the Minister of National Education, who relies heavily on “pedagogy” and “exchange with families”.
On the left, this ban divides the coalition New People’s Ecological and Social Union (Nupes), elected officials from the Socialist Party (PS) and the French Communist Party (PCF) approving it in particular in the name of the principle of secularism, La France insoumise (LFI ) denouncing an Islamophobic decision, and Europe Ecologie-Les Verts (EELV) a “stigma”.
“Clothing Police”
“Sadness to see the start of the school year politically polarized by a new absurd entirely artificial religious war over a female dress”, reacted Monday the “rebellious” leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, calling for “civil peace” and to “true secularism that unites instead of exasperating”.
Setting the tone of the exasperation of the “rebellious” at the announcement of this ban on Sunday evening, the leader of the LFI deputies, Mathilde Panot, had mocked on X (ex-Twitter) “the obsession” of Gabriel Attal: ” Muslims. Specifically, Muslims. »
“How far will the garment police go? “, was also indignant the deputy LFI Clémentine Autain, judging this decision “unconstitutional, contrary to the founding principles of secularism” and “symptomatic of the obsessive rejection of Muslims”.
In June, Mr. Mélenchon claimed that the abaya had “nothing to do with religion”, and that the school’s problem was not this garment but “the lack of teachers”. He agreed with the French Council for Muslim Worship (CFCM), which claimed that this traditional long robe covering the body was not a Muslim religious sign.
Among environmentalists, Gabriel Attal’s decision is seen as “a rancid controversy to divert attention from Macron’s policy of dismantling public schools”, underlines Cyrielle Chatelain, leader of the group in the Assembly, believing that ” the priority” is not “to be in a logic of exclusion and stigmatization”.
” A compass “
MP Sandrine Rousseau, known for her feminist positions, compares this announcement to a new “social control over the bodies of women and young girls”, like the “crop top ban” announced in September 2022.
Within the Socialist Party, the decision is welcomed more favorably: the deputy Jérôme Guedj, actively pro-Nupes, recalls, in the name of the principle of secularism, that “our compass is the prohibition of conspicuous signs at school . As soon as the abaya or the qamis are worn in an ostentatious dimension, then they must be prohibited as the 2004 law allows, without major difficulties. For him, “it is therefore not a clothing police but a proselytizing police at school”. This does not prevent him from shooting an arrow at Gabriel Attal, invited to “put the same energy to ensure the essential: to guarantee a teacher in front of each class”.
Socialist MP Fatiha Keloua Hachi, for her part, quipped about “THE priority of this new school year”, noting that “there is no shortage of teachers, AESH [accompanying students with disabilities], school doctors, classes are not overcrowded, social diversity is a reality everywhere…”
Renowned for his sometimes contrarian positions within Nupes, PCF boss Fabien Roussel clearly welcomed the ban. “Because the heads of establishments needed clear instructions even if it concerns 150 establishments out of the 60,000 that we have in our country,” he explained on Sud Radio on Monday.
“The school, temple of secularism”
On the right, the decision was applauded by Eric Ciotti (LR) on X: “We had repeatedly called for the banning of abayas in our schools. I welcome the decision of the Minister of National Education which proves us right. »
“School is a temple of secularism,” said Olivier Véran. “We come to the school not to proselytize religiously, but to learn,” added the government spokesperson, explaining that this decision was taken by first taking into account the principals and principals who would have requested stronger support from their department. Olivier Véran wanted to respond to “the far left” who would criticize the government and recalled that there were “other places where adults cannot come with ostentatious religious signs”, referring to the hospital environment.
According to the latest figures published on the subject, reports for “attacks on secularism” have increased by 120% between the 2022-2023 school year and the previous one (4,710, against 2,167). “Clothing issues are gaining momentum: they represented 15% to 20% of the facts reported until the spring of 2022 and now exceed 40% of monthly reports”, recalled our journalist Violaine Morin on Monday during a chat.
“There’s definitely an ideological offensive, but also an element of social media defiance, of teenage rebellion…and principals more inclined to report,” she explains, noting that, “in absolute terms, establishments concerned are few”, up to 150 (out of 10,000 colleges and high schools), of which only a few with more than a dozen cases.
