This request, made without the approval of the rectorate by the police, outraged the educational community. Instructions were given not to respond.
By NJ with AFP
© VALLAURI Nicolas / MAXPPP / PHOTOPQR/LA PROVENCE/MAXPPP
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Ihis request had outraged the educational community. At the end of April, police officers asked the school principals of Toulouse to inform them of the number of pupils absent on the day of Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of Ramadan for Muslims, on April 21, in the day before the school holidays in the academy.
“School principals and heads of establishments have been asked to provide figures for absenteeism on Eid day,” said a union source, confirming information published by the regional daily. The Midi Dispatch. This request was made by e-mail, without the approval of the rectorate of Toulouse: “In no case, we do not carry out investigations of the kind”, declared Mostafa Fourar, rector of the academy. “If someone took this initiative, National Education is absolutely not associated with it. »
The excuse of advanced “clumsiness”
“As soon as the heads of establishments and school principals informed us of this request, instructions were obviously given not to respond to it,” said Mostafa Fourar.
According to a source familiar with the matter, “it is a clumsiness”. “The territorial intelligence services went through the referent police officers of the National Education, their message was poorly formulated, but asking for an absenteeism rate is not filing or personal data”, underlined this source.
This territorial intelligence work is part of a context of “renewed attacks on secularism in schools” during the Ramadan period, according to this same source, with for example “challenges for social networks to film themselves with a veil” or refusals to participate in singing and music lessons.
A similar request in Hérault
Pupils are subject to the obligation of regular attendance, but leave of absence can be issued to families who request it for a religious holiday. “In the event of their child’s absence, the parents must immediately inform the director of the school of the reasons for their absence, but it is not up to the services to ask if they are going to be absent, in accordance with respect for the confidentiality of beliefs”, according to the Ministry of National Education.
“We do not understand how we could have this initiative, without it having been discussed anywhere. This raises questions, because clearly the state services have not spoken to National Education, “said Pierre Priouret, secretary general of Snes-FSU Toulouse.
According The Midi Dispatch, a similar request was made in early May in Hérault.