Resignation of a principal threatened with death, complaint filed in the name of the State against a student, establishment of a “ mobile school force “… The Maurice-Ravel high school affair is a reminder of how difficult it is sometimes to enforce the 2004 law prohibiting the wearing of ostentatious religious symbols within a school. Interview with Alain Policar, associate researcher at the Sciences Po Political Research Center and member of the Council of Elders of Secularism.
5 mins
RFI : THE ” early retirement » of the principal of the Maurice-Ravel high school in Paris is it a new sign of the difficulty in applying the law on secularism in schools? ?
Alain Policar: This illustrates, it seems to me, the difficulties of calmly applying the law which, as I have frequently written, appears, rightly or wrongly, to be discriminatory against Muslims. From this point of view, nerves are on edge, both on the part of the students and on that of the administration, which feels more or less obliged to refuse what they call an attack on secularism. In my eyes, the veil is no longer a sign of proselytism – sociological surveys show that it is often even a vector of emancipation for young girls in relation to their environments – and wearing the veil should therefore be analyzed each time on a case-by-case basis. However, the law does not allow this detailed analysis. Not all veils are a sign of resistance to republican values, but we cannot constantly probe intentions.
In reality, we cannot establish an exhaustive and definitive list of what is religious. Since all behavior can be assimilated, we invented the notion of sign by destination. At Council of Elders of Secularismwe are therefore informed of what appears to be an attack on secularism, and this list places the wearing of the veil and the suspicion of terrorismwhich is completely surreal.
What also makes the situation of secondary or high school teachers difficult is the fear of being the victim of an attack. Undeniably, we have reason to be afraid, and as a result, there is probably a form of self-censorship taking place. Their speeches cannot be expressed with enough freedom, which makes the climate even heavier in the school establishment. There are also other attacks on secularism, such as the refusal to listen to teaching on the theory of evolution or on Islam For example. The law is therefore, in my opinion, quite difficult to apply in itself: it is extremely difficult to know what the precise meaning of the student’s behavior is, to know what is proselytizing and truly a non-compliance with the law. . Added to this is the uneasiness of the profession and the lack of confidence in the various ministries.
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“ The law of the Republic must be imposed everywhere and for everyone », insisted Prisca Thévenot, government spokesperson. Are there any educational establishments where it is inapplicable? ?
We never know the extent of the phenomenon. Regarding religious symbols, we count them, but we never give them as a percentage of students. In reality, when we compare the absolute number of reports, it is extremely low compared to the number of students. It could be much worse if there was truly a coordinated desire of political Islam to invest in schools to destabilize the system. Despite everything, there is this idea that we have lost territories, mentioned in 2002 in a book edited by Georges Bensoussan. I think that there are living territories too, and that we are only talking about lost territories in which republican principles have difficulty validating against religious influence.
The real problem is that this 2004 law should also apply to private contract education. However, this is not the case, and we have talked about it a lot with the examples of Stanislas And Averroes. The Averroès high school was suspended, but not the Stanislas college, for which no subsidy has been initiated. There is a double standard which further accentuates the feeling that we are not doing the same thing depending on whether they are Catholic Christian establishments or Muslim establishments.
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The political class, both on the left and on the far right, denounced a “ failure “. What is missing to properly apply this law? ? Is the school poorly equipped? ?
We wanted to sacralize the school by saying that it was a space that had to be reserved, but I think it is absolutely unrealistic to imagine that the school could be spared from the conflicts of civil society. What is missing is certainly an education system that is already generally more benevolent towards students.
At the time, the 2004 law was interpreted as a law of freedom. She was greeted with relief by the educational community. Today, it is certain that the application of the law is difficult, and therefore generator of tensions. She even seems to be intolerant. Modern tolerance would mean accepting cultural diversity of values and asking the question of coexistence with minorities. In Francewe chose to fight Islamist terrorism with secularism, which is aberrant.
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