French schools send dozens of Muslim girls home for wearing Islamic abayas

Last month, France said it was banning the abaya in schools, saying it broke rules on secularism in education that have already seen Muslim headscarves banned
In 2004, France banned wearing of signs or outfits with a religious affiliation in schools, including Christian crosses, Jewish kippas and Islamic headscarves

France

Agence France-Presse

Published: 4:40pm, 5 Sep 2023

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French schools sent dozens of girls home for refusing to remove their abayas – an overgarment from the shoulders to the feet worn by Muslim women – on the first day of the school year, a government minister said on Tuesday.

Defying a ban on the Muslim dress, nearly 300 girls showed up on Monday morning wearing an abaya, Gabriel Attal told the BFM broadcaster.

Most agreed to change out of the dress, 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 Muslim headscarves banned 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.

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France's secular war: Muslim abaya dress banned in state schools

Attal said the girls refused entry 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 dress there would be a “new dialogue”, the minister said.

Late 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”, leading to the “worst consequences” such as the murder three years ago of teacher Samuel Paty for showing Mohamed 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 You Tube channel HugoDecrypte.

The issue of unique dress is in my opinion more acceptable and seems a little less strict from a disciplinary point of view

Emmanuel Macron, French president

Macron also said he supports the idea of students wearing uniforms in schools amid the backlash over the ban on abayas.

“The issue of unique dress is in my opinion more acceptable and seems a little less strict from a disciplinary point of view,” Macron said during that same YouTube interview.

Macron added that without imposing a strict dress code or uniform, “you can say – ‘put on a T-shirt, jeans and a jacket.’”

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 French government’s decision to ban schoolgirls wearing abayas – long, flowing dresses of Middle Eastern origin – has opened a fresh debate about the country’s secular laws and the treatment of Muslim minorities. Photo: AFP

The Action for the Rights of Muslims (ADM) motion is to be examined later on Tuesday.

A law introduced in March 2004 banned “the wearing of signs or outfits by which students ostensibly show a religious affiliation” in schools.

This includes large Christian crosses, Jewish kippas and Islamic headscarves.

Unlike headscarves, abayas occupied a grey area and had faced no outright ban until now.

Additional reporting by dpa