The wearing of the abaya will be banned at school in France, announced the Minister of National Education Gabriel Attal, a decision made in the name of secularism and supposed to put an end to the controversies around this traditional long dress worn by some Muslim students. «I decided that we could no longer wear abaya to school,» Gabriel Attal told TF1 on Sunday, August 28, 2023.
The minister, who had since he took office this summer, wished firmness on questions of secularism, had judged that going to school in abaya was «a religious gesture, aiming to test the resistance of the Republic on the secular sanctuary that the School must constitute», promising firmness about it. «You enter a classroom, you must not be able to identify the religion of the students by watching them», he explained Sunday on TF1. The question of this traditional garment is sensitive, the French Council of Muslim Worship (CFCM) believes that the abaya, a long dress covering the female body, is not a Muslim religious sign. Its port is «more ambivalent than a veil» according to Haoues Seniguer, lecturer at the IEP of Lyon and specialist in Islamism.
In France, according to the law of 15 March 2004, «in public schools, colleges and high schools, the wearing of signs or dress by which students ostensibly manifest a religious affiliation is prohibited», a circular specifying these signs «the Islamic veil (..) the kippa or a cross of manifestly excessive dimension». The National Education had already seized the abaya in November, in a circular that considered this garment – like bandanas and long skirts, also cited – as outfits that can be prohibited if they are «worn so as to manifest ostensibly a religious affiliation».
The predecessor of Gabriel Attal, Pap Ndiaye, questioned by the unions of heads of establishment on the increase of the incidents related to these outfits, had however refused to «publish endless catalogues to specify the lengths of dresses».
increased attacks on secularism.
According to a note from the state services, of which AFP has obtained a copy, the attacks on secularism, much more numerous since the assassination in 2020 around his college of Professor Samuel Paty, increased by 120% between the academic year 2021/2022 and 2022/2023. The wearing of signs and clothing, which represents the majority of attacks, increased by more than 150% throughout the last school year.
The minister wanted to pay tribute on Sunday to the heads of schools “who are on the front line on these questions of secularism”, and promised to meet “as early as next week (…) to give them all the keys so that they can enforce this rule”. Bruno Bobkiewicz, Secretary General of the National Union of Management Personnel of the National Education Authority, responded to AFP, “The instruction was not clear now and we welcome it.” “Now that the message is out, it has to be implemented in the institutions (…) the heads of schools must not be alone against the abayas,” he added.
On the opposition side, the decision was applauded on the right, with Eric Ciotti (LR) leading on X (formerly Twitter): «We had repeatedly called for the ban of abayas in our schools. I welcome the decision of the Minister of National Education, who agrees with us.” On the left, however, Clémentine Autain (LFI) was outraged by the «clothing police», judging «unconstitutional» the announcement of Gabriel Attal, «contrary to the founding principles of secularism. Symptomatic of the obsessive rejection of Muslims.
