France to Outlaw Wearing Muslim Abaya Dress in State Schools

Ahead of back-to-school season, France's education minister said on Sunday that children will not be permitted to attend state-run schools while wearing the abaya, the loose-fitting, full-length gowns used by certain Muslim women.

Since 19th-century legislation eliminated any traditional Catholic influence from public education, France has strictly prohibited religious signage in state-run schools and has struggled to modernize regulations to deal with a rising Muslim population.

In 2004, it banned headscarves in schools and passed a ban on full-face veils in public in 2010, angering some in its five million-strong Muslim community.Across the political spectrum, from left-wingers preserving the liberal ideas of the Enlightenment to far-right supporters seeking a bulwark against the rising influence of Islam in French culture, the defense of secularism is a rallying cry in France.

Education Minister Gabriel Attal stated in an interview with TV station TF1 that "I have decided that the abaya could no longer be worn in schools."

"You shouldn't be able to tell the students' religion just by looking at them when you walk into a classroom," he stated.

Source: AFP