- French high school teachers and students are on strike against a government ban on abayas and loose garments, citing concerns of Islamophobia.
- The ban is rooted in French secularism rules, and it follows a history of strict bans on religious symbols in state schools, affecting Muslim attire.
Teachers and students of a French high school have initiated a strike in protest of the government’s decision to ban abaya and long and loose garments in general worn by some Muslim women in public schools.
A statement from the protest group at the Maurice Utrillo high school in Stains, Seine-Saint-Denis, reads, “We want to distance ourselves from the government’s Islamophobic policy,” calling for a strike that began on Wednesday.
The group’s statement continues:
“Students must be welcomed at the Maurice Utrillo high school, and we do not have to police the clothing. We refuse to stigmatize students who wear an abaya or a qamis.”
Benoît Del Torchio, a science teacher also took part in in the strike. He said, “We did not become teachers to do this, but to teach in decent conditions.”
Seine-Saint-Denis, an impoverished suburb northeast of Paris, is home to many residents with ancestry in Africa and the Middle East.
The school’s decision aligns with a government ban on these outfits for schoolchildren, citing a breach of French rules on secularism in education.
One of the students who participated in the strike in front of the Utrillo school questioned the priorities, saying, “For months and months, we had no teachers as there were no replacements, but they found time for this?” as reported by local television BFM.
Parents also joined the demonstration, during which the school’s staff criticized budget issues, emphasizing what they called a “drastic drop” in necessary resources for effective teaching, including cuts to personnel and teaching hours.
A student’s mother expressed frustration, stating, “We are not waiting for ministries who tell us how to dress; we are waiting for ministries who give us the tools to provide our children some serenity… and that gives our teachers the best tools,” as reported by local media.
The display of religious symbols has long been a topic of controversy in France, home to Europe’s largest Muslim minority.
As students resumed their studies in France this week, approximately 300 girls were noted to have contravened the recent regulation by donning abayas. Those who refused to comply with the prohibition were consequently dismissed from school, accompanied by a letter to their parents stating that “secularism represents not a restriction but a liberty.”
Let’s take a look at the Cambridge Dictionary definition of liberty:
In addition, many Muslims girls have been denied access to an education in France for merely wearing loose garments. This has been reported to have been checked against whether the girl in question was Muslim.
In 2004, France also banned Muslim headscarves in schools. In 2010, a ban on full-face veils in public was introduced, sparking anger within its five million-strong Muslim community.
