Paris (AFP)
The freshly elected Republican President Christian Jacob on Monday called for the ban on the wearing of headscarves during school outings, in response to the debate revived by a RN elected who took a mother veiled during a meeting of the Regional Council. Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Friday.
"It shocks me that we accept that a veiled person can accompany children on school trips because, how to explain that it is forbidden on the premises of the school, but that if we are in contact with children outside , and still in the school, it is allowed? ", said Mr. Jacob on France Inter, calling to reconnect with the directive by Luc Chatel, Minister of Education under Nicolas Sarkozy (2009-2012).
The circular Chatel of March 2012 asked attendants not to wear ostentatious religious symbols. But a December 2013 State Council study states that parents accompanying school trips can not be considered as auxiliaries to the public service and are therefore not subject to the religious neutrality imposed on teachers.
"You tell the government to clearly ban the veil?", Asks Mr. Jacob. "Yes, from the moment when it is banned at school, for me, it's all the time school," insisted the one who won Sunday night in the internal election in the first round with 62.58% of the votes.
"It can be done without attacking people," he added, however, to the address of Julien Odoul, member of the national office of the RN, who had asked Friday that a veiled woman present in the public on the council Regional of Burgundy-Franche-Comté, accompanying a group of children from Belfort attending the plenary assembly, removed his veil.
The elected officials of the RN then left the room, before denouncing in a statement an "Islamist provocation".
Several government members including spokeswoman Sibeth Ndiaye, Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer and Secretary of State for Equality between Women and Men Marlene Schiappa stepped up to the plate this weekend to condemn the attitude of the elected RN.
© 2019 AFP