As students throughout the nation return to school, French authorities are keeping an eye on more than 500 schools for indications that students may be infringing a recently imposed ban on the Muslim women’s dress known as the abaya, the education minister said on Monday.
The government made the announcement to outlaw the abaya last month, claiming that it violated the secularism in education regulations that have previously seen Muslim headscarves outlawed.
The action pleased the political right, but the left claimed it violated civil liberties.
“There are 513 establishments that we have identified as potentially concerned by this question at the start of the school year,” Education Minister Gabriel Attal told RTL radio.
Prior to the start of the school year, he claimed that research had been done to determine which schools this may be problematic, and he added that some schools will be receiving qualified school inspectors.
