A fight between a teacher and a student over the use of the veil fueled the debate over secularism in schools

With the war in Gaza, Lebanon and Israel, the tensions in France between Muslims who defend Palestine and Jews who support Israel and are the two most important large communities in Europe, The application of French-style secularism in schools became controversial these days.

The secularism law prohibits the use of the Muslim veil or scarf or other religious signs in public establishments, including schools, banks and hospitals. On Monday, a teacher told a teenage student to take off the veil when he was retiring from the Sévigné de Tourcoing institute.

Two of the girls who accompanied her did so. The third refused. The teacher insisted. The student told him that she was leaving the establishment and that was why she was wearing the veil. The teacher complained again. The student first grabbed his arm, Then he pushed her against the wall and hit her. The teacher too.

The student remained imprisoned until Wednesday. He has no history of radicalization. But there is a mobilization at school in defense of the student, not the teacher.

Tourcoing is a city in northern France, close to the Belgian border and Lille. With 98,000 inhabitants, it suffered deindustrialization in the 70s and today is undergoing an urban renewal project. The immigrant population is made up of 12,513 inhabitants. The population is divided between Catholics, Protestants and Sunni Muslims. There are four mosques in the city.

The teenager from the Sévigné high school in Tourcoing (North) was taken into police custody on Monday afternoon, after the violent altercation with the teacher. It was not a chador or a burqa. It was a handkerchief. France is divided by secularism and how it is interpreted. The girl was placed under judicial control.

“Many defend the student”who refused to take off her veil, according to students at the Institute, who organized a demonstration. The attacked teacher does not receive unanimous support.

The suspected student was granted an extension on Wednesday, before being tried and will appear in court on December 11.

“I regret the blows I may have given this teacher and I hope it goes well for her,” declared the young woman, wearing a black jacket over a white T-shirt and hair tied up in a chignon, during the immediate appearance, during which she requested and obtained this delay. .

The 18-year-old high school student, who is in her last year in hospitality, will be tried for repeated violence and death threats against a person responsible for a public service mission. She was placed under judicial supervision, prohibited from establishing contact with the victim and from appearing at her home or near the school.

The young woman’s lawyer, Ossama Dahmane, estimated at the hearing that her place was not in the immediate appearance, highlighting that she had no criminal record. The high school student did not deny hitting the teacher but he questioned the death threats. He denounced “a procedure guided by public opinion.”

“Teachers and many other professional associations are always victims of violence when we want to enforce the rule of law and principles,” lamented their lawyer, Eric Cattelin-Denu, before the journalists present.

Classes, suspended on Tuesday, were also canceled on Wednesday to give staff “time for discussion and work,” the rector’s office said.

According to initial investigations, the teacher asked the student “to remove her religious veil, before being subjected to insulting comments,” the prosecutor’s office indicated on Tuesday.

Then, the teacher “opposed her to leaving the establishment to obtain her identity.” The student “slapped the teacher, who slapped it back.” “Several blows, threats and pushes followed,” according to the same source.

The teacher filed a complaint. A disciplinary council is also planned.

On Tuesday, the Minister of National Education, Anne Genetet, pointing out an act that challenges the “secular school” and “the Republic”, told the National Assembly that she had requested “very firm disciplinary sanctions” against the student.

A handful of students gathered in front of the institute at noon, among them a friend of the young woman, who described the situation as “an injustice.” She stated that putting on the veil before completely leaving the establishment was “the usual thing.”

Alone or in small groups, students and teachers arrived this Wednesday morning at the reception of the Sévigné institute in Tourcoing, despite the canceled classes. Two days after the attack on a teacher by a student who refused to remove her veil in the area of ​​this professional and technological establishment, the concern of some and the disbelief of others could be read on the faces.

“It has happened before that there have been altercations between teachers and students. But it had never taken such proportions. This time we are going too far, it is absurd,” thinks Christopher, 23, who studies communication and media, in a work-study program.

“This teacher had already made comments to several students about wearing the veil,” she continued.

“I always take it off on the corner, before arriving in front of the school.”confesses Malika, a canteen employee, in her fifties, as she takes off her black scarf from her head to put it in her bag.

Second-grader Jade sighs for her part. He did not know the student personally, but noted that “many young women here wear the veil.” Also of Muslim faith, she does not wear it. “Everyone has their own choice,” he said with a smile, before continuing on his way to the high school reception.

In the groups of students with whom Christopher interacts on social networks, each one has his own comment about the mistreated teacher, about the student taken into police custody at the end of the day on Monday and, above all, about the exact chronology of the events.

The young woman’s detention ended on Wednesday at 9 in the morning with a view to her appearance before the Lille prosecutor’s office. During her hearing yesterday, the accused student, who faces a sentence of up to three years in prison, admitted the facts. The court hearing will be in December.

The teacher, who teaches medical-social technical sciences and who was not the student’s teacher, was prescribed 3 days of leave and one week of sick leave. The teacher, who was hit on the legs, had redness on his legs and face when he filed the complaint.

The French state’s interpretation of secularism not only irritates Pope Francis, who will not come to the inauguration of Notre Dame Cathedral. It strains common life between Muslims and French defenders of secularism and bothers Catholics and Jews, who cannot use their religious signs in hospitals, schools or banks.

Article L. 141-5-1 of the Education Code establishes that: “In public schools, colleges and secondary schools, The use of signs or clothing is prohibited, through which students ostensibly demonstrate their religious affiliation.” The 4 principles of secularism are the equality of all citizens before the law, without distinction of religion; the guarantee of the free exercise of religion; the neutrality of the State; the absence of official worship and salaried employment of the clergy.

Secularism guarantees freedom of conscience. From this arises the freedom to express one’s beliefs or convictions within the limits of respect for public order. It implies the neutrality of the State and imposes the equality of all before the law without distinction of religion or beliefs. It guarantees believers and non-believers the same right to freedom of expression of their beliefs or convictions. It also guarantees the right to have or not have a religion, to change it or to stop having it. It guarantees the free exercise of worship and freedom of religion. No one can be forced to respect dogmas or religious prescriptions in France.