Paris (AFP)

The recent broadcast of a campaign poster defending the right for veiled women to go on school trips by the CIPF is a "mistake", Tuesday Jean-Michel Blanquer said, attracting in return the critics of the first federation of parents of pupils.

The CIPF internally distributed a campaign poster for the elections of parents' representatives defending the right of mothers of veiled Muslim students to accompany their children to field trips.

"Yes, I go on school outings, so what?" Says this poster, published on social networks. "Secularism is welcoming all parents without exception to school," reads a subtitle, next to a photo showing a veiled woman and a girl.

Asked about it on RMC-BFM TV, the Minister of Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, considered "regrettable" this campaign.

"We must have a sense of history, this federation of parents of students was based on secularism so it is extremely paradoxical, I think it is a mistake on their part, I hope they will correct it, "he said.

The minister went on to say: "It's a little bit disturbing, there are parent-teacher elections in a few weeks, the fact that we now have organizations that are trying to pander to communitarianism to have voice is not a good thing, "he said, asking CIPF to" correct "this" mistake ".

A reaction deemed "scandalous" by Rodrigo Arenas, co-president of the CIPF, interviewed by AFP. "This poster was sent internally to all our departmental sections, it was part of a lot as part of the election materials for the elections," he said.

The sections then choose the posters to be broadcast "according to the realities of the field". "Out of context, this poster has been exploited by far-right networks and Laurent Bouvet, founder of the Republican Printemps and member of the council of wise men of laïcité, instituted by Mr. Blanquer," protested Rodrigo Arenas .

According to the CIPF, Laurent Bouvet, who promotes strict secularism, has diverted the poster on his facebook and twitter accounts, for example by replacing the faces of women with faces of jihadists.

The federation has since been "cyberharcelée" and "by his reaction, Mr. Blanquer undermines the election results," denounced Mr. Arenas.

© 2019 AFP