France Reverses Course: Islamic Headscarves Allowed on School Trips

Having worked on the "bill for a school of trust", the deputies and senators, gathered in a Joint Committee (CMP) on June 13, defined, according to "RTFrance", "several points of agreement, the most notable of which concerns the removal of an amendment aimed at banning the wearing of the Islamic veil, for accompanying women, during school outings". However, on May 15, recalls the news site, these same senators had voted against the opinion of Jean-Michel Blanquer who banned the wearing of conspicuous religious symbols for accompanying persons.

This is already seen as a victory for the activist Sihame who congratulates "all the organizations that have mobilized". This success also delighted the municipal councilor of Saint-Denis, Madjid Messaoudene, who describes himself as a "racialized". For the latter, this decision of the CMP is "a victory against the rampant Islamophobia aimed at instrumentalizing secularism for the purposes of exclusion".

Much to the chagrin of the detractors of this amendment, including the Secretary of State to the Minister of National Education, Gabriel Attal. The latter had distinguished himself, last May, on "Cnews", affirming to be against a ban on the veil during school outings: "When we are not in school, we are not in school", he had launched.

Apart from this amendment, two other important provisions have been removed. These are, reports the same source, the provision aimed at suspending family allowances for truant parents and the second, largely supported by the "La République en Marche (LREM)" elected officials, which aims to replace the mentions "Father" and "Mother" by "Parent 1" and "Parent 2".