France saw a drop in cases of students flouting France's strict secularism rules, or laicite, at the start of this school year, according to the new education Minister Anne Genetet, who also called for more training for teachers in how to address these issues.
In September, at the start of the 2024-2025 school year, schools reported 110 incidents of students wearing religious clothing and ostentatious religious signs, compared to 838 the year before, Genetet said in an interview with the Tribune Dimanche on Sunday.
“The drop is clear,” she said of breaches to France's rules on secularism, called laicite.
Just before the start of the 2023 school year, Gabriel Attal, in his first major announcement after being named Education Minister, had banned students from wearing loose-fitting, full-length robes known as abayas, worn by some Muslim women.
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Most students agreed not to wear them, but many decided to flout the rules.
However, Genetet attributes the drop in these incidents to training, pointing to 267,000 “education ministry agents”, including teachers, who have been trained in the importance of secularism.
Republican values
“Laïcité is under threat. It has enemies,” Genetet said, adding that she would like teachers to get more than the 36 hours of training they currently receive in laicite and the “values of the republic”.
Training also goes hand in hand with providing support to teachers on the ground faced with incidents of students refusing to take off headscarves or other religious symbols, she said, pointing to 4,000 teachers and other education ministry staff that received help last year.
Paty murder puts focus on role of teachers in passing on French values
She also indicated she would like the ministry to be able to press charges, which would “reinforce the protection that we owe to our teachers”.
On Monday, Genetet called on middle and high school teachers to hold a minute of silence in honour of Dominique Bernard and Samuel Paty, two teachers killed by jihadists.
(with AFP)
