Louise Salle
modified to
07:10, December 09, 2022
This Friday marks National Secularism Day. In November, the attacks fell in the establishments according to the Minister of Education Pap Ndiaye who spoke on Tuesday on the subject. However, on the ground, difficulties persist. Despite the sending of “sheets” to heads of establishments to help them identify, dialogue and sanction behavior of a religious nature, a feeling of fear persists. An Ifop poll, published Thursday, indicates that 56% of public secondary teachers say they have self-censored to avoid incidents on issues of secularism. This is an increase of twenty points in four years, before the assassination of Samuel Paty. The problem is therefore far from settled.
A long-term job
Promoting secularism is a long-term fight, insists Dominique Faure. She is headmaster in the suburbs of Nantes and representative of the SNPDEN union. At the end of October, she summoned a student who wore an abaya, a long religious tunic. “It generated a rumor out of high school that we had excluded this young girl,” she says. “It created a movement of high school students who invaded the hall and wanted to organize a blockade of the high school.”
The situation was resolved through dialogue and the organization of conferences. Nevertheless, this example reflects a need for better intervention by the ministry, believes Dominique Faure. “Many teachers do not feel able to work on these issues with students,” she observes. “And it’s not enough to ask for a minute of silence on an attack or things like that. The ministry really needs to train the staff, and in particular the teachers.”
“The rules are too vague”
A headmaster in the Paris region, who wishes to remain anonymous, still encounters difficulties on abayas despite the recent texts sent by the National Education. “During the past fortnight, we have still had a certain number of young girls who persist,” he regrets. “If we have a very clear text on the wearing of the veil, it is not as explicit on the wearing of the abaya, which puts us in difficulty because the rules are too vague”.
Both nevertheless welcome the increased support from their rectorate since the start of the school year.