France is going to ban abayas in public schools in the name of secularism since the Government considers that these wide tunics that cover the body of women, from head to toe, hiding the shapes, originating from Muslim countries, are a dress of religious identification. "The school is not the place to do religious proselytism," said the government spokesman, Olivier Véran, on Monday, to justify a measure advanced hours before by the Minister of Education, Gabriel Attal.
In an interview with the BFMTV channel, Véran recalled that in public schools the principle of secularism is applied and the abaya "obviously is a religious dress", although the French Council of Muslim Worship (CFCM) claims otherwise.
On Sunday night, Attal had explained this prohibition in a general way that school directors could already decide on their own initiative, because those same directors "expect clear rules at the national level." The head of Education stressed that in France "the school of the Republic has been built around extremely strong values, and in particular secularism."
"Secularism - he added - is not a limitation, it is a freedom. It is the freedom to form an opinion. For me, secularism in school is something very clear: when you enter a class you do not have to be able to distinguish religion from students looking at them. Therefore, I have decided that you can no longer wear the abaya."
Attal intends to meet this week with school principals to explain his directive.
A 2004 law outlaws in public schools and high schools the clothing or signs with which students "ostensibly manifest a religious affiliation." The target of the law at that time was above all the Islamic headscarf.
The CFCM, a representative body for Muslims before the public powers, had spoken in June in the heat of the debate on the banning of the abaya in schools, stating that it is not a Muslim dress. "In the Muslim tradition, which we defend, a dress, whatever it is, is not a religious sign in itself," said the CFCM, which said it feared that this controversy would lead to a stigmatization of Muslims.
