FRANCE’S “ISLAMOPHOBIC” SCHOOLS

Paris, 12 Safar 1436/5 December 2014 (MINA) – A report on radicalization prevention in French schools, considering Muslim garb suspicious, has irked Muslims and educationalists, who warned against the rise of anti-Muslim stigmatization.

“The school has a role to play in preventing sectarianism among French youth. This requires reasoning not this kind of simplistic stigma,” Magali Espinasse, from the SNES-FSU teachers’ union, On Islam quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

“We need clarification of how the document was written and distributed,” she added, stressing the ambiguity of the document.

Espinasse was speaking out against the secret document under the title prevention of radicalization in schools and has been sent to the French school administration.

Deeming the uncut mustache, Muslim clothing and weight loss due to intense fasting criteria for suspicion, the document has been condemned as Islamophobic, further indicating a sign of growing intolerance towards Muslims.

Under the new regulation, teachers will be required to identify students with tendency towards radicalization.

Teachers will also have to report those students to keep them on track.

If adopted, the new regulation will prohibit students from using political rhetoric in assignments about conflict zones in the Middle East.

Proposed by a team of education specialists and French police forces in 2009, the final version of the document has not been completed so far.

“The extract of the document is not yet complete. We need to analyze the complete document in order to reach a final decision,” France’s Minister of Education, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said.

Two months ago, a far-right weekly caused a firestorm of controversy after describing France’s new education minister as a Moroccan Muslim and calling her appointment a provocation.

France is home to a Muslim community of nearly six million, the largest in Europe.

French Muslims have been complaining of restrictions on performing their religious practices.

In 2004, France banned Muslims from wearing hijab, an obligatory code of dress, in public places. Several European countries followed the French example.

France also outlawed the wearing of face-veil in public in 2011. Those who won’t remove their veils will have to pay a 150-euro ($190) fine. (T/P006/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)