At the start of the school year, a note from the State services already alerted. Nine months later, as students prepare to put away books and notebooks a few days before the holidays, the debate around the wearing of religious clothing in schools resurfaces.
Several elements show that the phenomenon is far from being contained. “The school facing the challenge of the abaya” headlined Le Parisien on June 7, revealing that Pap Ndiaye had brought together the rectors the day before and displayed his “firmness in the face of community pressure in certain neighborhoods”. In the aftermath, BFM TV broadcast a report edifying on two high schools in Lyon where up to 170 abayas, these long and loose dresses today advocated by rigorous Islam, have been counted. Members of the Council of Elders of Secularism and the Values of the Republic confirm, for their part, having received several direct feedback from the field in this direction.
Many headteachers today say they are helpless in the face of “the vagueness of the regulations”. Should an abaya be considered religious clothing? This is the dilemma they say they face. Some principals highlight the difficulty of taking into account different criteria such as “the frequency of wearing the robe” or “the student’s refusal to remove it or not”. All the more so when the cases identified are particularly numerous.
The 2004 law is clear
But for many specialists in secularism, the text of the 2004 law is perfectly clear. The circular dated November 9, 2022 also reminded us of this intangible principle: “In addition to clothing and religious signs, it [la loi de 2004] prohibits the wearing of outfits which, by intention, have a clear purpose to signify or claim membership or to engage in religious proselytism”.
This is indeed the case with abayas. No offense to those who maintain, knowingly or not, the vagueness around this question. The response to be given to those who challenge the principle of secularism, the pillar of the republican school, deserves the greatest clarity. And a flawless unity. “You have to be a child blessed with democracy not to know that the real danger of freedom is not secularism. Quite the contrary! Do not be afraid to see your freedom to learn or your freedom of expression muzzled by injunctions nuns is a huge chance”, recalled the professor of letters Delphine Girard this winter in our columns. This is why abayas must remain at the door of colleges and high schools.