According to Pew Research Center, Europe has experienced a record influx of asylum seekers fleeing predominantly Muslim countries, such as Syria. France, Italy and Belgium, specifically, have a large Muslim population with children.
With immigration on the rise and more children entering schools, one country has decided to expand their rules on “secularism” and to prohibit children from wearing a piece of clothing worn in predominantly Muslim countries.
France will no longer allow the abaya, an Islamic garment worn by some Muslim women, to be worn in state-run schools, according to a report from Reuters.
“I have decided that the abaya could no longer be worn in schools,” France’s education minister, Gabriel Attal, reportedly said in an interview with channel TF1.
"When you walk into a classroom, you shouldn't be able to identify the pupils' religion just by looking at them," he added.
In 2004, France reportedly banned headscarves in schools, as well as other religious symbols, like large crosses and Jewish kippahs. In 2010, it passed a ban on full face veils in public.
“France, which has enforced a strict ban on religious signs in state schools since 19th century laws removed any traditional Catholic influence from public education, has struggled to update guidelines to deal with a growing Muslim minority,” Reuters noted.
There has reportedly been an increase in violations of France’s secular rules.
France is to ban pupils in state-run schools from wearing the abaya – a loose-fitting robe worn by many Muslim women and girls.
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) August 28, 2023
Al Jazeera's @natachabut says the country’s education minister deems the garment a religious symbol which violates French secularism ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/lObnGao2lJ
The Hill noted that French President Emmanuel Macron’s rival in the 2022 election campaigned on banning headscarves from the country altogether.
Sky News pointed out that the abaya is a “loose overgarment,” essentially a robe-like dress, worn mostly in the Arabian Peninsula, most of the Middle East, and North Africa.
Critics of the new policy have claimed that it is “discriminatory,” and some have said that the abaya is not a religious garment.