French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on Wednesday (27/3) defended secularism in the country, following the resignation of a school principal in Paris who received death threats after asking a student to remove the hijab she wore while at school.
Attal, who is a former education minister, said that the country would file a complaint against the student regarding the false accusations made against the school principal. The student previously accused the school principal of wrongful actions in handling the incident that occurred at the end of February.
“The state will always stand with these officials, those who are on the front lines of facing these kinds of violations of secularism, attempts by Islamists to enter our educational institutions,” he said on the evening news program on television station TF1.
Secularism and religion are hot issues in France, which is home to Europe's largest Muslim community.
In 2004, authorities banned schoolchildren from wearing “signs or clothing that would suggest religious affiliation” such as head coverings, turbans or kippas. The rules are based on the country's secular laws, which are intended to guarantee the neutrality of state institutions.
Last year the government said it would also ban abayas – clothing worn by Muslim women that cover the body from neck to feet – in schools.
The principal's resignation comes amid high tensions in the country, following a series of incidents, including the murder of a teacher by an Islamist former student last year.
The headmaster at the Maurice-Ravel lycee in eastern Paris resigned after receiving death threats online following a dispute with a student last month, officials told AFP on Tuesday (26/3).
On February 28, he asked three students to remove their hijabs on school premises. But one of the three students – an adult student who was attending a vocational school – refused and a dispute ensued, according to prosecutors. The principal then received death threats online.
In a message to school staff, quoted by French communist daily L'Humanite, the principal said he had taken the decision to resign for “the safety of himself and that of the school.”
Education officials said the principal was taking “early retirement.”
Attal told TF1 that the principal was supposed to retire next June, and decided to step down a little early. (ns/ka)