An interministerial committee on secularism (CIL) is being held in Matignon this Thursday, December 9. National Education notes a slight increase in infringements of this principle.
On the occasion of secularism day, a report makes a lot of talk in France, that of attacks on this secularism in schools. The Ministry of National Education has just made its latest version for the period September-November and the figure is up very slightly, 614 cases of attack on secularism according to the terminology of the Ministry of National Education.
It was 547 during the previous period, a slight increase that the ministry explains mainly for two reasons: first, the tribute to Samuel Paty, a month ago which alone concentrated a third of the reports. But also a systematization of information feedback. Clearly, the figure increases in part, because we identify more rigorously than before these attacks.
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Verbal provocations, contestation of the teaching provided in class, the attacks are of various forms. The wearing of ostentatious religious symbols is on the increase, but remains at a low level, since it concerns only 15% of reports.
According to the ministry, the majority of these attacks on secularism occur in college. However, these figures should be put in context. The phenomenon is indeed very marginal: 614 reports are to be compared with the 12 million students in France in 60,000 establishments and among these attacks on secularism, only ten are considered serious by the authorities.
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