'Growing number' of French schoolgirls flouting secularism rules

This article was originally published on 15 October 2022, and appears as part of our review of the year.

French authorities are worried that some of the country's six million secondary school pupils are trying to bend laicité (secularism) rules. © AFP

The Ministry of Education recorded 313 violations of France's rules on secularism – which includes a ban on the wearing of ostentatious religious insignia in schools.

Speaking in the National Assembly on Wednesday, Education Minister Pap Ndiaye said laicité – a form of secularism that strictly separates church and state – was “not negociable”.

But French authorities are concerned that some of the country's six million secondary school pupils are trying to bend the rules.

According to figures published by the Ministry of Education on Thursday, the rules on secularism were infringed 313 times in September.

Just over half the cases were in high schools (51 percent), up from 30 percent for the period April to July. 

Fifty-four percent of incidents related to the wearing of religious signs and clothing.

In 2004, France banned the wearing of ostentatious religious insignia including Muslim hijabs, Jewish kippas and large Christian crosses in state schools.

“The trend towards an increase [in the breach of clothing rules], identified in the year 2021-2022, is continuing,” the statement said.  

Amongst the other reported infringements – around 8 percent concern suspicion of preaching, 5 percent for verbal provocation and 2 percent for refusing republican values.

However, the figures also showed a drop in the number of refusals to take part in school activities – down from 13 to 7 percent.

Circumventing the law

The reports of the breaches come from headteachers in France's 59,000 schools.

Data used to be collated and published every term, but is now being done on a monthly basis in a bid to provide more transparency.

More than 900 breaches were reported in the period April to July, compared to 635 in the first quarter.

The numbers appear low in view of the six million pupils in secondary schools, but Dominique Schnapper, the head of an advisory body on secularity in schools, said the figures were higher.

"The figures under-estimate the reality because they suppose that teachers and school staff are determined to pass them on," she told RFI, acknowledging that the subject could be sensitive.

The clothing in question, she said, concerns mainly girls wearing "ayabas" and boys wearing "gamis" – both traditional Muslim tunics worn over regular clothes.

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Schnapper recognised that such attire is not, theologically speaking, a sign of affiliation to Islam.

But "they are being used in a political way, as a recognition of religious identity, and therefore fall under the 2004 law that bans ostentacious religious insignia".

Gwenael Surel, head of a big high school in the west of France, has seen an increase in girls wearing abayas.

“In early September around 15 pupils came to school wearing abayas,” she told RFI, adding it was difficult to get the girls to acknowledge it was religious attire.

“You can find these large tunics in very European-type shops,” she said. “So they try and turn it into an issue of colour and shape, saying it’s just a tunic.”

Surel claimed the girls were actively "trying to get organised to circumvent the law”.

Republic ‘stronger than Tik Tok’

The Ministry of Education says the phenomenon is being fed by social media, notably the Tik Tok platform. 

Le Parisien daily reported that some Tik Tok videos attracted comments encouraging Muslim girls to stay at home, properly dressed, rather than go to school. 

“We are not naïve concerning these influencers, they don’t mean well", Pap Ndiaye told Le Monde daily.

“We will do what’s necessary to limit as far as possible the bad influence these Islamist agitators are having. We are working with the Ministry of the Interior on this.

"The Republic is stronger than Tik Tok.”

Insufficient guidance

Ndiaye said headteachers should stand firm, but some feel they're being left in the lurch.

"The documents say that it’s up to the principal to decide whether the clothing constitutes a religious symbol or not,” Audrey Chanonat, head of a middle school in Charente, told RFI.

“That puts us in a difficult position.”

Earlier this month the Minister Delegate in charge of Citizenship, Sonia Backès, insisted the abaya was a “religious marker” and therefore “forbidden” in schools.

The people who wear it are acting "through provocation", she told Franceinfo. 

“Do non-Muslims wear abayas? The answer is ‘no’,” she said.

Commemorating Samuel Paty

The focus on Islamic clothing in French schools comes at a sensitive time.

On 16 October, France marks the second anniversary of the death of history teacher Samuel Paty.

He was beheaded by an Islamist terrorist following a class on freedom of expression in which he showed his pupils caricatures of the Prophet Mohamed.

Ndiaye said all schools had been asked to pay tribute to the teacher.