02 September 2023; MEMO: French President Emmanuel Macron called on Friday for firmness in banning students from wearing abayas and other Islamic clothing, just three days before the start of the school year.
During his visit to a vocational high school in Orange in southern France, Macron announced that the government: “Will not let anything pass. We know there will be cases… by negligence perhaps, but much to try to challenge the republican system. We must be intractable.”
On Thursday evening, French Education Minister Gabriel Attal sent a memorandum to the heads of educational institutions in which he stressed that wearing the abaya and kameez (long shirt/tunic) is: “A religious gesture aimed at testing the resistance of the republic toward the secular sanctuary that schools must be.”
READ: France new school year to start with abaya ban
Teachers and heads of French schools “will not be left alone” when it comes to enforcing the ban, Macron explained, adding that French authorities will be “uncompromising on this subject.”
He stressed that these “knights of the republic” have the right to defend secularism and that he supports them when they are exposed to threats and pressure, highlighting that “the state and the republic stand behind them.”
Macron promised: “In the high schools or colleges that are the most sensitive, specific staff will be seconded alongside the heads of establishments and teachers to support them and engage in the necessary dialogue with families and students.”
