Baggy long garment ‘Abaya’ worn by certain Muslim women as been banned by the French government in public schools.
The French education minister announced the ban on Sunday, ahead of the commencement of the new academic year in September.
Due to a strict restriction on religious symbols, pupils in France have been unable to wear headscarves at public schools since 2004.
Gabriel Attal, France’s minister of education, told TF1 TV, “You shouldn’t be able to tell the students’ religion just by looking at them.”
“I’ve decided that the abaya cannot be worn in schools any longer.”
The abaya is commonly worn by women in sections of the Arabian Peninsula, most of the Middle East, and occasionally in North Africa. It is typically described as a loose over-garment, essentially a robe-like outfit.
However, there remains disagreement over whether the abaya is a religious symbol.
The abaya is a garment that might “take on a possible religious character” even though it is not an obviously religious emblem, according to former education minister Pap Ndiaye, who made this observation late last year.
This year, the argument grew more heated.
According to France’s Council of Muslim Worship, some people “mistaken” the abaya for a symbol of Islam.
In a statement released in June, the organisation stated that “any article of clothing is not a religious sign in itself.”
It continued, “You only need to travel through Muslim-majority nations to realize that the people of these nations, of all faiths, are indistinguishable based on the clothes they wear.”
2010 saw France outlaw full face veils in public, which infuriated some in the country’s five million-strong Muslim population.
Strong secular laws govern the nation, prohibiting displays of religion in public spaces.
The statutes in place in schools were first intended to eliminate any traditional Catholic influence from public instruction, but they have since been amended to embrace other religions.
Additionally prohibited from public schools are the Jewish kippah, “oversized” crosses, and other religious symbols.