No distinction between students based on religion: French education minister

By Umit Donmez

PARIS (AA) - France's education minister on Tuesday said that they do not distinguish between the students based on their religion.

Gabriel Attal said he fully undertakes his decision to ban the abaya and qamis overgarments in school buildings, reminding that it falls in the framework of the law of 2004.

"The Council of State's rule over an appeal against my decision confirmed that I only asked the law to be respected in all the school buildings," Attal told Anadolu on the sidelines of a meeting at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris.

"I do not think that the abaya question is a topic of the far-right," he also said. "I think all the French, including those from the left, stick to secularism. We do not distinguish between students based on their religion."

- Abaya ban in schools

Last month, Attal announced the ban on abaya, a loose full-length robe worn by some Muslim women, as of Sept. 4, the start of the new school term.

Despite the new rule, 298 students arrived at schools in various regions of the country wearing an abaya, and 67 of them refused to give up on their overgarment, Attal said.

The Muslim Rights Action (ADM), a Muslim rights group, filed an appeal with the Council of State to seek the suspension of the ban on the abaya, which it says violates "several fundamental freedoms."