French schools have sent 67 girls home for refusing to remove their abayas on the first day of the school year. The abaya — loose-fitting, full-length robe worn by some Muslim women — was banned in schools by the French government in August.
Nearly 300 girls came to school on the first day of term wearing the abaya, and 67 were sent home after they refused to remove the abaya, Education Minister Gabriel Attal told BFM, AFP reported.
Majority had agreed to change their clothes after being ‘reprimanded’ by teachers.
Attal said the girls who were sent back were given a message to their families stating that “secularism is not a hindrance; it is freedom.”
If they showed up at school again wearing the gown there would be a “new dialogue”. The controversial move sparked a backlash against the government, which has come under criticism in recent years for targeting Muslims with certain statements and policies, including raids on mosques and charitable foundations, and an anti-separatism law that imposes sweeping restrictions on society.
France, which imposed strict bans on religious symbols in public schools since 19th-century laws that removed any traditional Catholic influence from public education, has struggled to reform policies to deal with its growing Muslim minority.
French public schools do not allow students to wear large crosses, Jewish kippahs, or Islamic headscarves.
In 2004, the country banned the headscarf in schools, and in 2010 it banned the full-face veil in public, angering many in the Muslim community of about five million.
