Has Pap Ndiaye been sensitive to the recurring criticism levelled at him, accusing him of lacking firmness in the face of the multiplication of attacks on secularism in schools? Last May, the philosopher Élisabeth Badinter still pointed out in L'Express the ambiguity of the Minister of National Education: "One day, Pap Ndiaye affirms his desire to defend at all costs the public school and its principles. The next day, it is the opposite that is expressed, "said the woman of letters, who was among the first French intellectuals to have taken a stand against the wearing of the veil at school during the affair of the headscarf of Creil.
The minister met Tuesday the rectors of academies to transmit them two instructions relating to current topics: on the one hand school bullying, and on the other hand attacks on secularism. He thus asked the rectors to apply with "firmness" the principles of secularism in schools, and not to tolerate in any case the maintenance of "areas of lawlessness". In the entourage of the minister, it is specified that a particularly large number of reports for attacks on secularism concern in particular schools in Marseille.
Rectors, added Pap Ndiaye, should not hesitate to coordinate with prefectures to identify and remedy its problems. The ministry says most of these incidents are resolved through dialogue between school life leaders and students and their families.
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Questioned at the end of the council of ministers, government spokesman Olivier Véran also assured Wednesday that the government was "acting" on this subject, recognizing that it is a "phenomenon that could be extended and that would pose many problems".
More than one in two incidents related to the wearing of religious symbols
The monthly figures of declared attacks on secularism for May were published Wednesday by the Ministry of National Education. Attacks on secularism in schools fell overall by 30% between April and May, from 625 to 438. But they had previously risen sharply in March (to 505, compared to 282 in February), according to ministry figures. Observers had then pointed to the concomitance with Ramadan. Most importantly, the share of incidents involving the wearing of religious symbols and dress, such as abayas and qamis (long and traditional clothing, worn respectively by women and men wishing to show their belonging to the Muslim community), has increased, accounting for 56% of the total, compared to 37% in April and 42% in March.
The ministry confirmed to Le Figaro its refusal to "publish an exhaustive list of religious symbols" prohibited in schools, because "it would be counterproductive". The minister "therefore reaffirmed the need to be firm on the application of the 2004 law" prohibiting the wearing of "conspicuous religious symbols" in schools. A circular published in November required "systematic and graduated sanctions" for non-compliance with the 2004 law, which, while acknowledging "the difficulty of characterizing" certain facts as attacks on secularism, already refused to decide, among other things, whether abayas and qamis are explicitly prohibited in schools under the 2004 law. It is therefore always the assessment of school heads that prevails.
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But at the ministry, it is clearly acknowledged that "the number of reports of attacks on secularism is lower than the real number of incidents" in schools, and in an article in Le Parisien, the head of the majority union among school heads, Didier Georges, estimates that "four out of ten colleagues do not report incidents".
Pap Ndiaye therefore urged rectors not to hesitate before reporting an attack on secularism. He will also remind school heads, whom he will meet by videoconference, "by the end of June, before the school holidays," says his office.
