The attack on secularism in French schools is much more widespread than reported by the Ministry of Education, as headmasters often fail to report incidents to the school district, a teachers' trade union pointed out. A former teacher who had previously received death threats said in an interview that he was not sure that Muslims should wear the Salafist dress.

A shocking revelation about French schools has been raised by the teachers’ union SNPDEN, which has carried out a survey on secularism and its violation in educational institutions, Le Figaro reported. In reality there are far more attacks against secularism in French schools than the Ministry of Education communicates, as in many cases the headmasters do not report such incidents to the school district, the paper pointed out. Nearly 1,000 headmasters of the 10,700 French upper primary and secondary schools took part in the survey, the trade union wrote. 42 per cent of those surveyed said that in the first trimester of this school year they had noticed students wearing so-called „cultural clothing” that is often worn during religious practice. This refers mainly to the Arab tunic called kameez and the abaya worn by Muslims.

The article also reveals that the above-mentioned rate in vocational schools is even higher, at 72 per cent, which is an alarmingly high figure. The phenomenon is less prevalent in rural schools, and more pronounced in big cities and their suburbs, the paper points out.

The Islamisation of big cities and their surroundings, is confirmed by what Eric Zemmour said in an interview in February. The right-wing politician explained on RMC’s Apolline Matin programme that only foreigners can be found working in big city restaurant kitchens, but that this is not the case in the countryside, where French workers operate in restaurants in smaller towns. The reason for this is that the French are moving to the countryside from the capital and the big cities, as the suburbs have become so Islamised that the French no longer feel at home there, Mr Zemmour pointed out. As a result, the French have settled and remain in the countryside, far from the capital and the big cities.

VRAI ou FAUX ?

« Les étrangers font les métiers que les Français ne veulent pas faire. »

Je réponds.#ApollineMatin #ReformeDesRetraites pic.twitter.com/srsWQYxjwM

— Eric Zemmour (@ZemmourEric) February 9, 2023

As for schools and secularism, 43 per cent of the surveyed headmasters told the union that they did not report to the school district observed instances of the violation of secularism in school, that is, seeing religious behaviour or attire in the institution. Consequently, the reliability of the data communicated by the Ministry of Education is questionable. The ministry’s latest report, published at the beginning of February, shows that only 363 cases of pupils violating secularism in schools were reported in December and 280 in January. The ministry was pleased to announce that since November 2022, there has been a marked decrease in the number of transgressions regarding secularism in schools, which is due to the introduction of a so-called secularism plan, the ministry said.

The government’s plan to curb violations against secularism was introduced in November 2022 and has four main components to help headmasters and teachers. The first policy is to systematically sanction student behaviour if it violates secularism, the second is to strengthen the protection of staff in schools, the third is to support headmasters in the event of an attack on secularism, and the fourth is to train staff and headmasters.

Didier Lemaire commented on the trade union’s survey to the CNews news portal. Mr Lemaire is a philosophy teacher whose name came into the public eye in February 2021, when he received death threats after speaking openly about the intensive presence of Islamism in French schools. Because of the threats, the teacher first received police protection, then left the teaching profession and the city because he did not feel safe.

Responding to the question of the CNews reporter, Mr Lemaire pointed out that a survey on the issue had already been carried out last December by the pollster Ifop, and that produced exactly the same results. So, according to the former teacher, there is nothing new in this phenomenon, and the current survey only confirms the very worrying results obtained earlier.

Didier Lemaire, professeur de philosophie, sur les vêtements religieux dans le milieu scolaire : «je ne suis pas sûr que pour être musulman, il faille porter ces tenues», #LaMatinale pic.twitter.com/IBf4HQvUS6

— CNEWS (@CNEWS) March 9, 2023

When the reporter asked what exactly the cultural dress referred to in the union’s survey meant, Mr Lemaire said it was religious dress, adding that he personally was not sure that this type of clothing had to be worn by someone who was Muslim, as it was more typical of Salafis. When they talk about religious dress worn by students in French schools, they are referring exclusively to Muslim dress, there is no other kind of religious attire in educational institutions, Mr Lemaire pointed out.