Pupils will be banned from wearing abayas, loose-fitting full-length robes worn by some Muslim women, in France’s state-run schools, the education minister has said.
The rule will be applied as soon as the new school year starts on 4 September.
France has a strict ban on religious signs in state schools and government buildings, arguing that they violate secular laws.
Wearing a headscarf has been banned since 2004 in state-run schools.
Is this a case of being lost in translation or something? I wouldn’t consider religious garb to be a “sign.”
Signs should be better translated to symbols here
Calling clothes a “symbol” of religion is a stretch, too.
A display of religion then? It is meant as anything that could identify you as someone with a certain religion
The real question is: would they stop a kid from wearing a necklace with a cross, for example?
They did in mine. Most of my classmates found it pretty cringe too
Thats interesting. Is that purely from a religious symbol standpoint or is it a jewellery thing too? And cringe that they were banned or that they were worn at all?
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In the UK at my kids school, yes. No jewelry of any kind allowed. Not even studs in newly pierced ears, which is a bit annoying.
I also went to a UK school and there was no jewellery of any kind because it was against uniform policy, not for religious reasons. I was pretty sure there was no problem with religious headgear though, for example Sikh turban wearing.
I was asking about the French public schools as thats what the article was about.
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Yes, obviously in the context of this story. It seems weird to assume otherwise to me
It’s not really obvious, which is why I had to ask. The article focuses on a piece of clothing which isn’t really religiously significant being banned, so I wouldn’t say it’s obvious what falls under the law.
But the reason it was banned was clearly identified as being because it is symbolic of a religion. Based on that, how wouldn’t a cross necklace also qualify?
The law has already been in place for many years and this item is just now being banned, as if they suddenly realised now that it’s symbolic. Don’t act like it should be obvious what items are included and what is not, as that is the whole point of this being news.
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask for a French perspective on the specifics.