On August 27, 2023, the French Foreign Minister said that the nation would ban children from wearing the “Abaya,” which refers to the loose-fitting robes worn by Muslim Women in state-run schools. This announcement was made just ahead of the back-to-school season.
The Education minister of France, Gabriel Attal, told the media that it will not be possible to wear the abaya at schools. He added that he would give school heads clear rules at the national level ahead of returning to classes nationwide from September 4, 2023.
Women have been banned from wearing the Islamic Headscarf, and this decision came after months of debate over the wearing of abayas In French Schools.
The French nation has strictly banned religious signs in state schools since the 19th-century laws removed any Catholic influence from public education. However, the nation has struggled to update guidelines to deal with the Muslim Minority.
“Secularism means freedom to emancipate oneself through school,” Attal said. He added that the abaya is a religious gesture aimed at testing the resistance of the republic towards the secular sanctuary the school must constitute.”
“You enter a classroom, you must not be able to identify the religion of the school students by looking at them,” he said.
Mixed Reactions
Approached by the head teachers union about the issue, Attal’s predecessor as the education minister of France, Pap Ndiaye, replied that he did not want to publish endless catalogues to specify the lengths of the dresses. At least one Union leader, Bruno Bobkiewicz, welcomed Attal’s announcement on August 27, 2023.
The instructions were not clear, but now they are, and we welcome it, Bruno, the general secretary of the NPDEN-UNSA, which represents head teachers. Eric Ciotto, the head of the opposition right-wing Republican Party, also welcomed the news. He said we called or banned the abayas in our schools several times.
But Clementine Autain, of the left-wing opposition France Unbowed party, denounced what she described as policing of clothing. Attal’s announcement was unconstitutional and against the founding principles of France’s secular values, she argued and symptomatic of the government’s obsessive reaction to Muslims.
Barely back from the Summer break, she said President Emmanuel Macron’s administration was already trying to compete with Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally. The debate had intensified since a radical Chechen refugee killed and beheaded teacher Samuel Paty, who had shown the caricatures of Prophet Mohammed near his school in a Paris suburb in 2020.
The CFCM, a national body encompassing numerous Muslim associations, has said that items of clothing are not a religious sign. The announcement is the first major move of Attal, 34 since he was promoted to this summer to handle the hugely enormous and contentious portfolio.
Along with Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, 40, he is seen as the rising star who could play an important role potentially after Emmanuel Macron steps down in 2027.
Secularism in France
French secularism was inspired by the French Revolution in 1789, and in 1905, an act was passed that separated the clergy and the state. Secularism in France is called Laïcité”
The French nation has strictly banned religious signs in state schools since the 19th-century laws removed any Catholic influence from public education. However, the nation has struggled to update guidelines to deal with the Muslim Minority.
“The wearing of signs or the outfits that ostensibly show a religious affiliation” in schools has been banned by a law passed in March 2004. It includes large Christian crosses, Jewish Kippas and Islamic Headscarves. This was an effort to create a unique school space where everyone would look equal and “religiously anonymous.”
All About Abaya
Many people are familiar with Islamic headscarves, but the abaya is quite different. It is a long baggy garment worn as per Islamic beliefs on modest dress, occupied a grey area and faced no outright ban until now.
In November 2022, the French Education Ministry issued a notice and circular calling the abaya one of the items of clothing that could be banned if they were to be worn in a manner as to openly display a religious affiliation. Long Skirts and bandanas come under the same category.
