Wearing the abaya in schools: “Things are going well”, assures Élisabeth Borne

The government was not aware of any incident Monday at midday on the application of the ban on wearing the abaya, said Elisabeth Borne during a trip to the start of the school year. “Things are going well this (Monday) morning (…). There is no incident for the moment, we will continue all day to be vigilant so that the students understand the meaning of this rule”, declared the Prime Minister to the press during a visit to a primary school in Saint-Germain-sur-Ille in Ille-et-Vilaine, accompanied by the Minister of National Education Gabriel Attal.

“There are a number of establishments where young girls have arrived in abaya,” she admitted. “Some young girls have agreed to remove it. For the others, we will have discussions with them, educational approaches to explain that there is a law that applies, which prohibits the wearing of any sign or outfit by which the students manifest belonging to a religion, whatever it is,” she said.

“There will be pedagogy”

Gabriel Attal had indicated that 513 establishments were “potentially concerned” by the question of the abaya, a long traditional covering dress worn by certain Muslim students, after the ban on this garment at school. “We will indeed be very vigilant so that this law is applied. There will be pedagogy and this is what will be done in its first days, it is important”, underlined Elisabeth Borne. The Prime Minister also refuted any “upsurge in exchanges on social networks” to try to circumvent the ban on the abaya, “contrary to what some would have you believe”.

The question of the abaya should not overshadow the other initiatives of the start of the school year, warns the entourage of the Minister of Education. In particular the promise of a teacher in front of each class, the fight against harassment, the return to basics such as mathematics or reading or even the experimentation of the uniform at school, on a voluntary basis, announced on Monday morning by Gabriel Attal.