Gabriel Attal continues to show his firmness in matters of secularism, on the eve of twenty years of the law of March 15, 2004, which prohibited the wearing of apparently religious symbols and clothing in educational facilities and marked a milestone in the supervision of the principle of secularism in schools. The Prime Minister thus announced the establishment in an interview with AFP on Wednesday, March 13 “pedagogical support cells, accessible directly to teachers who are interested in the course of teaching and face resistance or even protests”.
In addition to supporting education “with reference teachers”, who can advisewith To address certain parts of the program, these units can offer support to the teacher directly in the classroom, either through the presence of non-teaching staff or trained staff. “To accept that a teacher is afraid to teach is a defeat for the republic”declares the Prime Minister, and the former Minister of National Education, for whom “Secularism is under threat (…) today probably more than ever”.
The number of attacks on secularism recorded by the Ministry of National Education regarding the wearing of religious symbols and clothing has fallen drastically since Gabriel Attal’s ban on abayas and qamis in late August. Between September and November 2023, it increased from 81% of recorded incidents to 14%. “the number of reports of disputes in teaching is increasing”is confirmed by the prime minister, who sees this as a sign that a “speech is free”.
Census Strategy
Gabriel Attal continues the action of previous governments. For almost ten years now, measures dedicated to secularism in schools have continued to be strengthened. After the 2015 attacks, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, then Minister of National Education, began structuring secularism units with representatives in each department. Since 2018, Jean-Michel Blanquer has dedicated his rise to power, expanding their numbers and their missions, renaming them teams “values of the republic”. These then embody the strategy of identifying attacks on secularism “no more sweeping the dust under the rug”. The assassination of Samuel Paty by an Islamist terrorist dramatically supports this political will, as did that of Dominik Bernardo three years later. It is no longer possible for successive governments to be inactive.
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