Inside the Paris school whose headteacher quit after death threats over headscarf row
The headteacher of Maurice-Ravel high school in the French capital recently resigned after receiving death threats following an incident with a female pupil about a headscarf. The French prime minister Gabriel Attal has since announced the government is taking legal action against the student in question. As Prisca Borrel reports, the consequences of this controversial affair are dramatic and underline just how hard it is for teaching staff to peacefully apply the law banning the wearing of overtly religious symbols in state schools.
Prisca Borrel
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HavingHaving just turned 19, and without ever once having promoted hatred, a high school pupil has become a symbol of the French Republic's “failure” and of the “victory of Islamism”, all because of her veil - or rather, her hoodie and hat. The controversy that has surrounded Maurice-Ravel high school in Paris is symptomatic of the over-the-top media coverage of the debate about the wearing of the traditional abaya dress and headscarves in schools. It also highlights the major problems faced by teaching staff who become caught up in issues of the length of a dress and the thickness of a headband, and who struggle to peacefully apply the 2004 French law which bans the wearing of religious symbols in school.
