The new Minister of National Education recently said he was in favor of experimenting with wearing school uniforms. The mayor of Béziers announced on Monday that his city was a candidate.
Should we expect a return to wearing school uniforms? Newly appointed to the post of Minister of National Education, Gabriel Attal granted a river interview at the end of July to Midi-Free. Interview in which were successively addressed the question of authority within the school and that of the wearing of religious outfits, the abayas, traditional outfit worn by women in Muslim countries of the Middle East, being particularly targeted. Believing that “the National Education institution must be the institution of respect for authority” and judging that “coming to school in abayas is a religious gesture, aimed at testing the resistance of the Republic on the secular sanctuary that must to constitute the School”, Gabriel Attal had in the process been questioned on his position concerning the return of the uniform, a solution regularly put forward by certain political figures.
The new Minister of National Education, however, was cautious on this subject. “If the educational community of an establishment asks to experiment with it, for example within the framework of the National Council for Refoundation, I am in favor of it”, he estimated, stressing in passing that it is “already the case in some overseas establishments”. If Gabriel Attal defended the idea that “experimentation is always useful for advancing the debate, one way or the other”, he nevertheless said he was “realistic”. “Can we imagine that it would be a magic solution to solve all the problems on its own? I don’t think so,” he concluded.
Robert Ménard, ready to experiment with the uniform in the schools of Béziers
It was enough for Robert Ménard to volunteer. From this Monday, August 7, the mayor of Béziers declared on the airwaves of France Blue answer “present to Mr. Attal” and “lev[er] the hand”. Robert Ménard, however, assured not to be “naive enough to think that the uniform or the blouse at school will solve everything”, before defending: “It can partially solve a certain number of questions.” the “fashionable race”, erase social differences, calm “ambient narcissism”, but also “fight against school harassment”, such would be, according to the mayor of Béziers, the advantages of a return to the uniform at the school.
These schools which already impose the uniform
Rare are the schools that impose the uniform these days. Among them, we find in particular the defense high schools, ex-military high schools, six establishments, according to TF1 News : the National Military Prytanée at La Flèche, the military high schools of Aix, Autun and Saint-Cyr, the naval high school of Brest and the School of Air and Space Pupils of Montbonnot-Saint- Martin. The education centers of the Legion of Honor, establishments reserved only for descendants of decorated Legion of Honor, also impose the uniform on their students, as does the boarding school of excellence of Sourdun, in Seine-et -Marne (since March 2012).
If in mainland France the wearing of a school uniform is therefore rather rare, overseas, it is much more widespread. Note that it is sometimes more of an imposed outfit than a real uniform in Martinique, Guyana or Guadeloupe. For example, a t-shirt of a certain color may be requested. As reported by the regional daily The union, in January 2023, a third of public establishments imposed it in Martinique. According The 1st, in New Caledonia, since 2017, the wearing of uniforms has been generalized in schools in the southern province. On the side of Polynesia, seven colleges in Tahiti have made it compulsory.
School uniform: what does the law say?
The return of school uniforms is a recurring debate in France. However, it has never been made compulsory for all public education in metropolitan France, recalls TF1 News. If many children have, of course, put on the blouse during their school years, the goal was above all to limit the ink stains on the clothes. An outfit that has gradually become obsolete with the advent of the ballpoint pen, relates the historian Claude Lelièvre, in his book The school of today in the light of history.
The uniforms as such were for their part more set up in the private sector or in public establishments claiming to be more selective. In secondary education, on the other hand, the uniform was imposed by Napoleon at the time of the creation of high schools, in 1802. An obligation lifted in 1914, but certain establishments let the tradition continue until, for the most resistant, 1968. It is finally the student crisis which would have forced them to abandon the uniform once and for all.
Today, as the former Minister of National Education Pap Ndiaye recalled in January 2023, “establishments, in complete freedom, by modifying their internal regulations, can [tout à fait] impose, if they wish, school uniform”.
Uniform at school: why Brigitte Macron is for
In an interview given to Parisian and produced by seven readers of the daily, published on January 12, 2023, Brigitte Macron said she was in favor of wearing school uniforms. Reminding the panelists of their fight against school bullying, she also mentioned the reason why she supported the wearing of an outfit pre-established by schools.
“I wore the uniform as a student: fifteen years of navy blue skirt, navy blue sweater”, she recalled to the Parisian. An experience of which she has fond memories. The first lady considered the advantages of standardizing outfits: it would not bring differentiation between students but, on the contrary, would save money “compared to brands”, she argued. It would also be an opportunity for students to save time because “it’s time-consuming to choose how to dress in the morning”. If the uniform were to return to French schools, there would however be one condition supported by Brigitte Macron: it would take “a simple and not sad outfit”.