In 2015 already, the French government asked teaching staff to report “anything that might suggest that a student is approaching radical Islam”.
The submitted reports have been very vague however and not very helpful to media enquiries as to the exact nature of the offenses being noted in schools.
The breakdown and percentage spreads of the reported instances of secularism being “undermined” nevertheless show a radical undercurrent that have taken root in the French education system.
- Wearing signs and religious clothing (25 percent of cases treated)
- Refusal to practice a school activity or to fulfill its service obligations (20 percent of the cases treated)
- Contestation of teaching or teaching not in conformity with the framework of the programs (12 percent of the treated cases)
- Suspicion of religious proselytism (10 percent of the treated cases)
- “Other facts” 33 percent. The “other facts” included rites and feasts conflicting with events and field trips, school absences, and “prolonged non-use of the school catering service linked to the practice of a cult”..”
French daily Libération, criticised the vagueness of the offenses referenced by Jean-Michel Blanquer, the Minister of Education. In July, the minister complained of being inundated with reports detailing “attacks on secularism”.
“..Teachers and staff write to us every time that there is a problem of secularism – it is not always a problem of radicalisation, fortunately – but a problem of attacking secularism,” Blanquer noted at the time. “We’ve had about 30 reports a day since we did that, so we have clear ideas.”
But the “clear ideas” were not directly linked to religion on the website in debating laïcité, France’s stringent concept of state secularism. Muslims, are an estimated 9 percent of the French population, in the secular Republic.
Education-policy officials are afraid that students would self-segregate, which would mean going against the colourblindness of the French state. It directly threatens the country’s link to its former colonies.
Therefore, the French census does not classify its citizens by race or religion, because such differences would rupture the national myth of a common people united only by language.
Jean Baubérot, an expert on laïcité, recalled when, during a conference on minorities at UNESCO, the French representative proudly stated: “Minorities do not exist in France.”
The 1905 law that separates religion from politics in France has been a governing force in society, but Muslims feel that laïcité has been weaponized only against Islam and the French government is afraid to address the problem head-on.
The law of secularity is based on three principals: freedom of conscience, the separation of political institutions from religious organisations, and the equal footing before the law of different religions and beliefs.
Since 2004, with the passing of the “Islamic headscarf law,” a turning point in the national conversation about laïcité has been marked, but the issue has only become more divisive since.
The truth is that Muslim communities living in the poor suburbs of France’s major cities, do not ascribe to the country’s belief in a universal French identity based on language alone.
In December last year, Blanquer, in a speech to mark the anniversary of the 1905 law, lamented that teachers often “feel alone” when faced with “infringements on laïcité”.
Accordingly, he announced the creation of “laïcité units” in public schools to manage such incidents, Libération reported.
Jean-Pierre Obin, a high-ranking education official, who had authored a report that was central in the creation of the 2004 law, commented: “The law was made in response to a religion that manifested itself in an ostentatious way—the Muslim religion—which has a strong proselytizing dimension.”
He said the display of Islam constitutes a form of proselytism, so banning the religion’s signs would promote secularity.
