A 15-year-old Muslim girl named, Sarah was sent home from school in France for wearing a long black skirt. The head teacher asked her to go back home and come back in a neutral skirt as Sarah’s black skirt suggested she was being too religious, covering her whole body as per the Muslim custom.
Sarah was banned from school for wearing the skirt twice as according to the head teacher her skirt was an obvious representation of religious affiliation, which is banned in schools by France’s strict secularity laws.
“The girl was not excluded, she was asked to come back with a neutral outfit and it seems her father did not want the student to come back to school,” local education official Patrice Dutot.
He also informed that Sarah always took her veil out before entering the school building in Charleville-Mezieres.
Veils, the Jewish kippa or large Christian crosses are all banned in educational establishments according to the 2004 law.
According to Sarah, her skirt was “nothing special, it’s very simple, there’s nothing conspicuous. There is no religious sign whatsoever.”
This story trended this Tuesday on Twitter with the hashtag #JePorteMaJupeCommeJeVeux, which in English means “I wear my skirt as I please.” One person tweeted- “If it’s worn by a ‘white’ person, it’s hippy chic, if it’s a Muslim, it becomes conspicuous.
Regional education office said, “When it comes to concerted protest actions by students, which follow other more visible incidents linked for instance to wearing the veil, the secular framework for education must be firmly reminded and guaranteed.”
According to a report, 130 students were rejected from class last year for wearing clothes that looked openly religious.
News and image sourced from Deccan Chronicle
