The events reported by the intelligence service date from September 2, 2022 and concern the Joliot-Curie high school in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine), currently at the heart of the media storm, after the placement in police custody of fourteen young people at the following a blockade in front of the establishment, this Tuesday, October 11. “On the occasion of the start of the school year, a dozen young girls of the Muslim faith tried to enter the Joliot-Curie high school wearing religious clothes (…) for some a veil, and for others an abaya “, warns this note from the intelligence department of the Paris Prefecture of Police (DRPP), dated September 7, the content of which L’Express is able to reveal. “Then, on September 5, three young girls again tried to enter the school, wearing an abaya”, indicate the intelligence agents, whose service is competent in Paris and in the three departments of the inner suburbs of Paris. .
An offensive which is part of the context of a 2021-2022 school year “already marked by tensions in the application of the principles of secularism within the high school”, according to the officials. However, this year, the new management intends to remain “very firm”, which surprised this handful of students. “According to the management of the Joliot-Curie high school, the origin of the incident which occurred on September 2 seems to come more from the young girls’ ignorance of this new attitude, rather than from a real desire to provoke”, writes the DRPP , which reveals that the high school girls concerned are “students of first and terminal”.
The document provides details on recent practices within this school and how the current management intends to remedy them. Thus, “if until now, young girls of the Muslim faith benefited from a certain flexibility from the establishment about their outfit (possibility of keeping an under-hijab or wearing a headband authorized…) , now the wearing of any clothing or accessory with a religious connotation is no longer tolerated within the premises of the establishment, “writes the DRPP. The text also recalls that “the change of outfit, if necessary, must also be done before the entrance gate, and no longer in the high school toilets”. In recent years, students have had the opportunity to put on and take off their religious symbols not before entering the school, but inside it. The note from the DRPP thus reveals that certain “young girls of the Muslim faith used to reveal themselves before attending classes” in the “toilets on the ground floor of the school”.
In his book The Barbara method (Fayard), published on October 12, the former principal Barbara Martin looks back on her years spent at the head of the Joliot-Curie high school, between 2018 and 2021. An establishment of 1,700 students, regularly under tension, which has already suffered several crises in the past, and where “the veil is worn by forty students”, reveals the author. “A few weeks after my arrival, a teacher warns me that some girls put their veils back on in the toilets on the ground floor of the school before leaving the establishment, which is prohibited”, explains Barbara Martin in her book. The principal explains that she “solved the problem very simply, calmly” by installing a mirror at the entrance to the establishment so that young girls who wish to can put their veils back on before going out. According to a source close to the ministry, the initiative is far from having won unanimous support. “Such a measure goes completely against the 2004 law which prohibits the wearing of conspicuous religious inside a school, protests this source. When such habits are taken, it is complicated to return back because the students do not understand why what was a permitted time is no longer.
Several sticking points
A few days after this start of the school year in September 2022, the aunt of a student also launched a petition on Change.org entitled “Refusal of access to education for reason: Muslim clothing”. This text has collected more than 2,000 signatures to date. “My niece and a handful of her classmates were refused access to their school on the grounds that their clothes were “Muslim”, writes the person behind this approach. “The purpose of this petition is to highlight light the abusive behavior of certain headteachers against minorities and to ensure that the school we finance is an environment conducive to openness and tolerance and that the term secularism is observed in its literary and not political definition!” The note from the State services mentions this petition, specifying that “locally, the climate seems peaceful on this subject”.
As for the famous mirror, it was well and truly removed several months ago, a sign that the management of the establishment has regained control. The Versailles Academy, contacted by L’Express, explains that the “situation”, pointed out by the information note, only concerned “a few young girls at the start of the school year”. “In accordance with the 2004 law and the recommendations of the vademecum, they were received by the management within the framework of a constructive dialogue and accepted the application of the principle of secularism”, she adds.
For a few days, the Joliot-Curie high school has however become the scene of strong tensions. This Monday, October 10, students tried several times to block the establishment, which gave rise to fourteen arrests last Tuesday, following the throwing of projectiles and the firing of fireworks at the forces of the order. Then two other arrests took place this Thursday after new scuffles between young people (not all of them are part of the establishment) and the police. An investigation, entrusted to the Hauts-de-Seine territorial security, was opened for an armed crowd by masked individuals and aggravated violence against persons holding public authority, the prosecution told AFP. In a press release, the staff of the Joliot-Curie high school condemn, for their part, “the completely disproportionate and even surreal deployment of the riot squads in front of the high school”.
Various motivations
These demonstrations by high school students have several reasons. The framework for the application of secularism is one of them. Several students are indeed demanding the right to wear certain outfits, such as the abaya (which many prefer to call today a “long dress”). However, this garment can be prohibited within a school if it is shown that it is part of a religious approach. According to some union officials, teachers or students, this last claim would be considered secondary. On October 12, Nupes deputy Louis Boyard also accused “the far right” of “spreading fake news”. “While 14 high school students were taken into custody after being bludgeoned and gassed with tear gas, it was invented that their blockade would have been ‘against secularism'”, he advanced before unfolding their other claims.
The students also intended to protest against the end of the homework assistance system. On the evening of October 13, the academy announced in a press release that “to ensure a calm school climate”, it was going to “strengthen the student aid system from October 17”. She will soon deploy two teaching assistants to “accompany students who request it”. The mobilization of high school students also comes in support of Kai Terada, a teacher transferred to another establishment “in the interest of the service”, after being suspended. The agents of the DRPP evoke in their note this “other point of tension”. It is about “recent displacements imposed on three teachers”, as well as “the suspension of a teacher who also performs the function of union representative”. At that time, a strike movement was underway within the school to support the teacher in question, Kai Terada, co-secretary of SUD Education 92. “No local action on public roads is planned to date. “, was it stipulated in this note. A point belied by the facts a month later.