“It is clear that the controversy launched by the government on abayas and qamis seeks to hide the attacks that are made against the public education service. In Stains (Seine-Saint-Denis), it is with these words that the “GA (general assembly) of struggle” of the Maurice-Utrillo high school announces that it has voted to strike from this Wednesday, September 6. The staff, students and families mobilized also call for a rally the same day, at noon, in front of the establishment.
The strikers denounce above all “the drastic drop in resources” allocated to the high school, evoking “the explosion” in the number of vocational second students (from 24 to 30 students per class, they explain), the loss of one four CPE (senior education adviser) or even sixty hours of teaching for this new year.
“The popular youths are never listened to, nor even accompanied”
But they also oppose the government’s decision to ban the wearing of the abaya and qamis, these traditional Middle Eastern outfits, considered religious clothing by the state. “We want to dissociate ourselves from the Islamophobic policy of the government, writes the general assembly in a press release. For us, all students must be welcomed (…) we don’t have to police the clothing. We refuse to stigmatize students. »
The educational staff, who did not respond to our requests, estimated in a press release that “the cultural nature of the abaya does not achieve consensus either for political representatives or representatives of the Muslim faith”.
He considers that “these incessant debates are representative of the current climate throughout French society: popular youths are never listened to, nor even accompanied; they are once again suspected of testing the Republic,” write the staff. “Increasing the pressure on these issues can only damage relations with our students, break the trust between education stakeholders, students and their families, but also and above all fundamentally distance us from our public service mission”, continue -they.
The mayor supports their movement
Contacted, the mayor (DVG) of Stains, Azzédine Taïbi said to “support the movement” launched in the high school of his commune. “I would have preferred that it not come to this for the start of the new school year, but I know the educational staff and the parents of students well enough to know that if they have made such a decision, it is because they took the measure of the great difficulties encountered in high school. »
The elected official, who toured the schools of his city on Monday morning, also regrets the controversies surrounding the wearing of the abaya, “while these are the substantive issues that concern the educational teams and the parents of students. : teachers who are not yet in post in schools, lack of means to support students with disabilities, etc. “.
Grégory Thuizat, departmental co-secretary of SNES-FSU 93 also says he “completely subscribes” to the text written by the school staff. Regarding the ban on the wearing of the abaya, he denounces a “memo which prohibits two garments without defining them. However, when one prohibits, the definitional aspect is very important. »
On the merits, the activist speaks of a note “which distorts the 2004 law (relating to secularism) which prohibits the conspicuous wearing of religious symbols in schools. This text, for its part, opens up the field of what can be prohibited in an extremely dangerous way (…) The risk, tomorrow, is that we are witnessing the humiliation of students. And how will we tell the difference between a long set, a dress and an abaya? There is a risk of assigning students to a real or supposed religion on the basis of their attire. »
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