the Ministry of National Education gives keys to school heads to manage religious symbols

In a letter sent these days to the rectors of the academy, the Ministry of National Education gives keys to the heads of establishments to manage religious symbols in the school grounds. This letter, which franceinfo was able to consult on Monday, October 10, comes a few days after Pap Ndiaye, the Minister of National Education, indicated that the “lifts” ground “confirm an increase in reports attacks on secularism at school since the start of the school year, “especially reports of wearing clothes”.

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With this letter, the principals of colleges and principals of high schools have tools to know whether or not a student contravenes the 2004 law on the wearing of religious signs or outfits. The ministry quotes in particular the abayas, this female garment which covers the whole of the body, with the exception of the head, the feet and the hands, and the qamis, a very long male garment. Worn by some students in middle school and high school, these outfits should be banned. These tunics are “usually worn on religious holidays, in this case Muslim”, details the mail. They can therefore be a form of “conspicuous manifestation of religious convictions”.

If the school head notices that a pupil is wearing this outfit, the ministry first invites him to meet the pupil with his family. This is often when parents find out that their son or daughter is going to school wearing an abaya or qami. After this meeting, if the teenager continues to come with his outfit, a disciplinary procedure is then launched, which can go as far as the exclusion of the pupil with suspended sentence.

School leaders must also report each incident on an application. They tick the box “attack on the values ​​of the Republic”, in this case secularism. The information then goes back to the rectorates. A “Values ​​de la République” referent inspector can thus come to the aid of the head of the establishment in order to manage these incidents. There is a referent inspector per academy. These recorded incidents then go back to the Ministry of National Education.