Rabat – Teachers and staff members of Maurice-Utrillo High School in Stains, Seine-Saint-Denis, have called for a strike and a gathering in front of the school on Wednesday.
Organized by the collective “Lycee Utrillo 93 en lutte,” the move is in protest of France’s recent Abaya ban in schools, according to a report from Le Figaro.
“No to the government’s Islamophobic policy,” protesters’ banners read. “We have no business policing clothing,” a “welcome” leaflet distributed at the beginning of the school year and shared extensively on social media reads. “We refuse to stigmatize students who wear an abaya or a qamis.”
France’s decision to ban Abaya in school citing secularism has sparked outrage among a number of human rights advocates.
The Action Rights of Muslims Association (ADM), a French non-governmental organization, filed an appeal to the State Council on Friday, with a view to getting the French government to suspend the prohibition on abayas in schools.
The policy was put into effect at the start of the school year.
ADM Association asserts that “affected students will be deprived of clothing that allows them to express their cultural or regional identity without conflicting with secularism.”
The French organization also contends that “the ban is worded vaguely and broadly, lacking specific guidelines concerning the clothing in question,” which raises concerns about potential misuse targeting students who simply wish to wear loose-fitting garments that qualify as abayas.
ADM additionally highlights that the ban could “encourage personnel in the national education system to inquire about students’ religious beliefs to determine if their attire is religious or not, which would constitute a significant and clearly unlawful violation of students’ right to privacy.”
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