The current Prime Minister and then Education Minister Gabriel Attal announced the trial introduction of school uniforms in September parallel to the ban on wearing abayas. These are ankle-length robes traditionally worn by women in Islamic countries, with which, from the authorities’ point of view, students are increasingly testing the ban on headscarves and other religious symbols in French schools that was imposed 20 years ago.
The announcement of the ban on visible religious symbols in schools on March 15, 2004 was preceded by years of tug-of-war over the headscarf in schools in France, which is committed to secularism, i.e. the strict separation of state and religion. The starting point in 1989 was the so-called headscarf affair involving the three students Fatima, Leila and Samira, who insisted on wearing headscarves to class in the Parisian community of Creil. Other students followed her example. The question of whether Islamist fundamentalists from Algeria or Iran were instrumentalizing the students in a possible campaign to destabilize France or whether religion and tradition should be respected divided France at the time.
“Abaya has no place in our schools”
The country watches closely for violations of secularism in schools; following all, the national education system is considered the mainstay of the French Republic. There were over 4,700 violations reported last school year, often involving wearing abayas. “The abaya has no place in our schools,” said the education minister and banned the garment by decree, while his predecessor had, as he said, shied away from a list of banned items of clothing in schools months earlier. Critics say, however, that the abaya is not necessarily a religious symbol, but simply a piece of clothing.
President Emmanuel Macron supported the ban, saying it was regarding creating calm in schools. Nobody should be stigmatized or excluded because they wear clothing with a religious reference or too eccentric clothing. According to the Ministry of Education, 100 schools from elementary schools to middle schools to high schools will now be testing school uniforms starting this year. The whole thing doesn’t have to be too formal, said Macron, who spoke of uniform clothing with a T-shirt, jeans and jacket.
Hatred and murders in France’s schools
France has had to experience painfully on several occasions that the school system is becoming a target for Islamists because of its commitment to the values of the republic. The murder of history teacher Samuel Paty, who was killed by an 18-year-old Islamist near Paris in 2020 and then beheaded, caused international horror. Before the crime, Paty had been criticized on the Internet because he had shown caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in class on the subject of freedom of expression. Last October, in Arras, northern France, a teacher was stabbed to death by a radicalized former student who expressed his hatred of France, the French and democracy in an audio message.
Young people in France more tolerant
After years of bitter disputes over headscarves and religious symbols in schools and public institutions, young people in France are now more tolerant of the issue, a survey by the Kantar Institute showed at the end of last year. 43 percent of the 18 to 30 year olds surveyed support wearing religious symbols, including headscarves, at work, while 24 percent reject it. At public high schools, 43 percent support wearing religious symbols, while 31 percent are once morest it.
The sociologist Philippe Portier, who was involved in the study, also explained the greater tolerance of the younger generation with more cosmopolitanism: “Experiences in their daily lives, such as dealing with young people who do not eat pork or wear a headscarf, change doctrinal patterns that previously existed may have been acquired. For young people, these religious symbols are not synonymous with a precursor to radicalization and a potential threat, as perceived by a large part of society,” the sociologist told the newspaper “Libération”.
