According to the French education minister, France plans to ban an Islamic garment traditionally worn by some muslin women from its state schools.
Education Minister Gabriel Attal said in an interview with French TV channel TF1 that the abaya – the long robes worn by some Muslim women – will be banned from schools, Portal reported. These are just the latest steps taken by the French government to limit Islamic dress in public.
“I have decided that the abaya can no longer be worn in schools,” Attal said in the statement interview.
“When you walk into a classroom, you shouldn’t be able to tell the religion of the students just by looking at them,” he said.
In 2004, France banned students from wearing headscarves and other religious symbols, including large crosses and Jewish kippahs, in its schools. In addition, wearing face veils in public was banned in 2011.
The country has fought a decades-long struggle with secularism and the Muslim headscarf was the focus during the last French presidential campaign season. French President Emmanuel Macron’s rival campaigned for a blanket ban on the headscarf in the country in the 2022 election, sparking outrage among Muslim women who questioned why the headscarf was being discussed in politics.
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