French education minister has announced a ban on Islamic abayas

Gabriel Attal, France’s minister of education, stated to TF1 television that wearing an abaya to school would no longer be permitted and that he would provide “clear rules at the national level” to school administrators prior to the start of courses across the country on September 4.

The decision made following months of discussion about the abaya’s wear in French schools. Where women have long prohibited from donning the Islamic headscarf.

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The ban had promoted by the right and far-right, who claimed it would violate civil liberties.

According to reports, abayas are worn in schools more frequently. Aand there are conflicts between instructors and parents about it.

According to Attal, “secularism means the freedom to emancipate oneself through education.” She called the abaya “a religious gesture, intended to test the republic’s resistance toward the secular sanctuary that school must constitute.”

When you walk into a classroom, you shouldn’t able to tell the students’ religion just by looking at them, he added.

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The wearing of “signs or outfits by students ostensibly showing a religious affiliation” in schools prohibited by a law passed in March 2004.

Large crosses, Jewish kippas, and Islamic head scarves are examples of this.

Abayas, a long, baggy garment worn to adhere to Islamic views on modest dress. Occupied a gray area and had not previously faced an outright prohibition, in contrast to headscarves.

But in November of last year, the education ministry had already released a circular on the subject The abaya among a list of garments whose use would prohibited if it “worn in a manner to openly display a religious affiliation.” Bandanas and long skirts lumped together in the circular.