French Education Minister Gabriel Attal announced today that France will ban the Islamic dress known as the abaya in schools. “The Republic School was built on strong values, and secularism is one of them. “When you enter the classroom, you shouldn’t be able to recognize the students’ religion,” Atal said in an interview with French television TF1.
– I announce it [uczniowie] He added that they will no longer be allowed to wear the abaya in school.
The abaya is a long, flowing garment commonly worn by Muslim women because it conforms to Islamic beliefs about modest dress – but is also worn by other North African and Middle Eastern societies. In 2004, France banned the wearing of religious symbols in schools, including large crosses, Jewish capes and Islamic headscarves, but the abaya is a gray area and has not yet been specifically banned.
The focus on abayas follows reports of an increase in the number of girls wearing Islamic dress in French schools, which some say is a violation of the country’s secular values. Last month, National Assembly Speaker Yael Brown-Bevet, a member of President Emmanuel Macron’s party, called for the reintroduction of a “fully secular state school” “without Ramadan, abayas or ostentatious religious banners”.
Muslim man in abaya cloak
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