Muslim pupils banned from wearing abaya robes in French public schools

Aug 26, 2023

Move angers community leaders who say it sets a ‘discriminatory precedent’ and reignites debate on France’s separation of church and state

The abaya, a loose-fitting full length robe, has been banned from French public schools in a move which has angered Muslim leaders and reignited debate on French secularism.

Gabriel Attal, France’s newly-appointed national education minister, announced that students will be prohibited from wearing the abaya along with the qamis, a long tunic worn by men.

“When you enter a classroom, you must not be able to identify the religion of the students by looking at them,” Mr Attal said in a TV interview with TF1.

French law forbids religious symbols such as the cross, kippah and Islamic headscarf in public schools and government buildings, as part of a constitution that separates church and state.

But leaders of the Muslim community were critical of the decision, arguing that the abaya is not a religious symbol but a traditional Arab garment that can be worn by Muslim and non-Muslim women alike.

“No referential text of Islam evokes any ‘abaya,’” said a statement released by the French Council of the Muslim Faith.

Imposing a ban on a non-religious garment presents a “dangerous and discriminatory precedent”, and risks blurring the line between abayas and “the wearing of any long dress at school,” the statement continues.

Over the last year, headteachers have been asking the government for guidance on the wearing of abayas.

During the 2022-2023 academic year, the government received 4,710 reports of incidents that violated French secularism in schools, more than double the number of reports received the year before, according to Le Monde.

Mr Attal defended his decision during a press conference emphasising that the abaya “has no place in public schools” and that French secularism must be upheld.

Educational union SNPDEN-UNSA applauded the government for its “clarity and courage” while Éric Ciotti, the Republicans leader, also endorsed the decision, calling the abaya a form of communitarianism, itself “a leprosy that threatens the Republic”.

But the policy drew swift condemnation from members of the Left who called it Islamophobic and unconstitutional.

Clémentine Autain of La France Insoumise (LFI) described the move as further evidence of the government’s “obsessive rejection of Muslims”.

Thomas Portes, a fellow LFI deputy, called the announcement a misplaced priority.

“The concern of the families is not the clothing but to know if they will be able to buy school supplies,” tweeted Mr Portes.

“The Islamophobic controversy over abaya launched by Gabriel Attal responds to a political agenda, that of the extreme Right. It is unworthy.”

Mr Attal’s first major move as education minister falls in line with the president’s repeated insistence on the need to restore authority and reinforce French values in the classroom.

During a conversation about the riots that were carried out mostly by minors this summer, Emmanuel Macron lamented what he called the loss of civility among French youth, and said he wants to make weekly readings and debates on French values an essential part of the curriculum.

“School is at the heart of the battle for the nation,” he told Le Point.

Secularism in public schools has been an inflammatory topic since the 2020 murder of Samuel Paty, a secondary school teacher, who was beheaded by an Islamist terrorist after showing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed during a civics class on freedom of speech.