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The French Council of State has approved the recent ban on wearing abayas in schools. The country’s highest administrative court on Thursday rejected an urgent request from an association for the protection of Muslim rights (ADM) against the ban on ankle-length robes traditionally worn by women in Islamic countries. The Council of State in Paris ruled that the ban does not constitute a serious and apparently illegal violation of a fundamental freedom.

At the start of the school year, the Minister of Education not only banned abayas, but also the wearing of the associated overcoat for men, the qamis. He invokes the long-standing ban on visible religious symbols in schools in France, which is concerned with secularism, that is, the strict separation between state and religion.

Religious background

As the Conseil d’État pointed out, the prohibition does not constitute an unlawful interference with the right to respect for private life, freedom of religion, the right to education and respect for the best interests of the child, or the principle of non-discrimination.

The court was convinced that the increased wearing of abayas and qamis in schools has a religious background. This is also apparent from the statements of the students involved.

However, the law prohibits students in public schools from wearing signs or clothing that indicate their affiliation with a religion, either by themselves or by the behavior of the student.

Macron for uniform clothing

In the discussion about the introduction of school uniforms, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke out in favor of uniform clothing.

“There is the uniform and there is uniform clothing,” Macron said in an interview with Youtuber Hugo Décrypte on Monday evening. “Without a uniform you can say you put on a T-shirt, jeans and a jacket,” the president said. “You can have things that are much more acceptable to young people. That’s the uniform, that’s not a uniform and what I think is less strict disciplinary wise. It regulates a lot of things.”

In France, the discussion about the introduction of school uniforms has flared up again because, according to the authorities, schoolgirls are increasingly wearing so-called abayas. These are ankle-length robes traditionally worn by women in Islamic countries.

At the start of the school year earlier this week, Education Minister Gabriel Attal banned the wearing of abayas. In doing so, he invokes the long-standing ban on visible religious symbols in schools in France, which is concerned with secularism, that is, the strict separation between state and religion.

At the same time, the Minister of Education had announced that school uniforms would be tested in different school types from the autumn. As Macron said Monday evening, he supports a school uniform test. It is about creating peace in the schools, the focus at the school is on community.

No one should be stigmatized or excluded because of their clothing. It’s about clothes with a religious reference, but also clothes that are overly eccentric. In the past, there were also discussions in France about wearing crop tops, crop tops.

(sda/dpa)