Education
Macron for uniform clothing in France’s schools
President Emmanuel Macron advocates uniform clothing in France’s schools. photo
© Lewis Joly/AP Pool/AP/dpa
France has been debating the wearing of abayas and religious clothing in schools for days. A court is reviewing the ban, Macron is emphasizing the importance of quiet and community in schools.
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,” says Macron in an interview with YouTuber Hugo Décrypte. “Without having 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 for young people, which is the uniform, which is not a uniform and which I think is less strict from a disciplinary point of view, it regulates a lot of things.”
The debate about introducing school uniforms flared up again in France 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. He relies on the long-standing ban on visible religious symbols in schools in France, which is concerned with secularism, i.e. the strict separation of state and religion.
The Council of State, France’s highest administrative court, is dealing with the question of whether a ban on abayas in schools is even legal. An association for the protection of the rights of Muslims (ADM) had submitted an urgent application against the ban.
At the same time, the Minister of Education had announced that school uniforms would be tested at various types of schools starting in the autumn. As Macron said on Monday evening, he supports a test with school uniforms. It’s about creating calm in the schools, the focus at the school is on community. Nobody should be stigmatized or excluded because of their clothing. It is about clothing with a religious reference and also about clothing that is overly eccentric. In the past there had also been discussions in France about wearing crop tops, crop tops.