Students attending state-run institutions in France will no longer be permitted to wear abayas to school. France’s education minister Gabriel Attal announced that the ban on the loose-fitting full-length robe — worn by some Muslim women, will commence at the beginning of the new school year, on September 4.
In his first major policy decision as the education minister, Attal said in an interview with TV channel TF1 he has “decided that the abaya could no longer be worn in schools.”
“When you walk into a classroom, you shouldn’t be able to identify the pupils’ religion just by looking at them,” he said.
“Secularism means the freedom to emancipate oneself through school,” Attal continued, adding that the abaya is “a religious gesture, aimed at testing the resistance of the republic toward the secular sanctuary that school must constitute.”
The French Council of Muslim Faith (CFCM), the national body of Muslim associations responded to the latest ban, saying that items of clothing alone were not “a religious sign”.
Since March 2004, students attending state-run schools have been banned from wearing headscarfs or any apparel that “ostensibly show a religious affiliation” in schools, including large crosses or Jewish kippas.
Since the 19th Century, France has enforced strict bans on religious signs at schools and government buildings in an effort to uphold secular laws.
In 2010, full face veils were banned in public. The ambiguous design of abayas has meant that they have not faced a complete ban until now — after months of debate over their presence in French schools.
Last month, President of the National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet, called for “a totally secular state school” where there is “no ramadan, no abaya, no ostentatious religious signs.”
In November 2022, the education ministry described the abaya as one of a group of items of clothing, including bandanas and long skirts, whose wearing would be banned if they are” worn in a manner as to openly display a religious affiliation”.
Attal’s decision has attracted both supporters and opponents.
His predecessor, Pap Ndiaye welcomed the ban, saying he did not wish “to publish endless catalogues to specify the lengths of dresses”.
Union leader and general secretary of the National Union of National Education Management Personnel, Bruno Bobkiewicz said “The instructions were not clear, now they are and we welcome it.”
Head of the opposition right-wing Republicans party, Eric Ciotto, also welcomed the news, saying “We called for the ban on abayas in our schools several times.”
Meanwhile, left-wing populist party, France Unbowed legislator Clementine Autain condemned the latest ban, describing it as the “policing of clothing”.
According to Autain, Attal’s latest policy is “unconstitutional” and indicative of the government’s “obsessive rejection of Muslims“.