28-8-2023 (PARIS) French Education Minister Gabriel Attal revealed on Sunday that France intends to prohibit the Islamic garment known as the abaya in schools.
“The school of the Republic was founded on strong values, and secularism is one of them. … When you enter a classroom, you shouldn’t be able to identify the religion of students,” Attal said in an interview with French TV channel TF1.
“I announce that students will no longer be allowed to wear abayas in school,” he stated.
The abaya is a long, flowing dress commonly worn by Muslim women in adherence to Islamic principles of modest dress. However, it is also worn by other communities in North Africa and the Middle East. In 2004, France banned religious symbols in schools, including large crosses, Jewish kippahs, and Islamic headscarves. But the abaya falls into a gray area and has not been explicitly prohibited.
Attal, who took office in July, announced that he would lead discussions in the coming weeks before issuing new “clear nationwide regulations” for schools.
The focus on abayas comes as reports suggest an increasing number of girls are wearing Islamic clothing in French schools, a trend that some view as contrary to the country’s secular values. Last month, Yaël Braun-Pivet, President of the National Assembly and a member of President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party, called for “a completely secular state school” where there is “no Ramadan, no abaya, no conspicuous religious signs.”
While some politicians were calling for new legislation to ban religious attire, it seems the government will instead provide school principals with new guidelines.
Secularism in French schools has long been a contentious issue, with proponents arguing that religion, particularly Islam, has encroached on the public sphere. Critics, however, contend that religious minorities face discrimination in a historically Christian country.
Tensions over education and religion escalated in 2020 when a radicalized Chechen refugee beheaded a French teacher who had shown caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in class.
