Late last week, France Education Minister Gabriel Attal announced in an interview with TV channel TF1, that there will be a ban on children from wearing the abaya- the loose-fitting, full-length robe worn by some Muslim women – in state-run schools.
France, which has enforced a strict ban on religious signs in state schools since 19th-century laws removed any traditional Catholic influence from public education, has struggled to update guidelines to deal with a growing Muslim minority.
In 2004, the country banned headscarves in schools, and in 2010, it passed a ban on full face veils in public, angering many in its five million-strong Muslim community.
The move comes after months of debate over the wearing of abayas in French schools, where women have long been banned from wearing the hijab.
The French Council of Muslim Faith, a national body encompassing many Muslim associations, has said items of clothing alone were not “a religious sign”.
Defending secularism is a rallying cry in France that resonates across the political spectrum, from left-wingers upholding the liberal values of the Enlightenment to far-right voters seeking a bulwark against the growing role of Islam in French society.
© Reuters