PARIS: France’s public schools will ban Muslim students wearing long robes or abayas from attending classes starting next week, according to President Emmanuel Macron.
The ban follows Education Minister Gabriel Attal’s announcement that robes worn by Muslims, such as abayas and khamis, would be banned with the start of the new school year.
Macron emphasized the country’s commitment to secularism in the education system and defended secularism in public schools.
According to AP, Macron said authorities would be “intractable” in enforcing a new rule when classes resume next week.
“School in our country is free and mandatory, but it is secular. Because it is the very condition that makes citizenship possible.
“And so, whatever the religious signs, there is no place for them. And we will vigorously defend this secularism, ” Macron told the media on Friday.
Macron addressed the dress code for the first publicly after visiting a professional school in the Vaucluse region of southern France.
French Education Minister Gabriel Attal announced at a news conference four days ago that robes worn mainly by Muslims, known as abayas for girls and women and khamis for boys and men, would be banned with the start of the new school year on Monday.
