Paris: agencies
French President Emmanuel Macron said, on Friday, that no French students will be allowed to enter schools if they wear long clothes, "the abaya". According to what was reported by the "Seventh Day" website in Cairo today, Saturday

Macron stressed that the authorities will deal very firmly with the implementation of the new law when studies resume next week, noting that the new law does not apply to university students.

According to the Associated Press, Macron spoke about the serious dress code for the first time publicly after visiting a vocational school in the Vaucluse region in southern France.

During the visit, he said, "We know that there will be cases of students who will test the extent of adherence to the rule, including cases that will try to challenge the Republic's system," stressing that they will not be able to infiltrate the classrooms, and that they will be dealt with firmly.

Speaking about how the new measure will be implemented, Macron said that specific staff will be sent to "sensitive" schools to help school principals and teachers have a "constructive" dialogue with students and families, if necessary.

French Minister of Education, Gabriel Attal, announced last Sunday that he would “ban the wearing of the abaya in schools” in France, stressing his endeavor to set “clear rules at the national level” for school principals.

Attal described girls and boys wearing the abaya in middle and high schools as a “violation of secularism,” pointing out that secularism is a basic principle in France, and accused some students of using traditional dress in an attempt to destabilize schools.

Atal said earlier that 14,000 education employees will be trained in leadership positions by the end of this year to deal with this issue in order to support secularism, and 300,000 employees will be trained by 2025.

The new rules were widely criticized in French circles, as social networking sites were filled with critics who say that loose, modest clothing “abayas” are not a boast of religion and should not be banned in classrooms.