The Conseil d'etat, France's highest administrative court, on Thursday rejected an application by an association for an injunction against the ban on headscarves in schools .

Edited by |Alexander Yaxina

Europe section -  CJ journalist

Paris - – September,7,2023

Thus, the State Council supported the decision imposed by the government last month, stressing that it does not constitute discrimination against Muslims.

The French government announced at the end of August, based on the principle of state secularism, a ban on wearing the abaya in schools because of its controversial religious nature. In France, the placement of religious symbols in schools is prohibited by a law passed in 2004.

The head of the association, Siham zeini, said that the decision to ban the abaya is a decision that reflects "sexual discrimination" because it exclusively concerns girls and "targets Arabs".

But France's education ministry said that "the abaya immediately indicates that whoever wears it belongs to the Islamic religion".

On Monday, French schools sent dozens of girls home because they refused to commit to banning the abaya on the first day of the school year.

Education Minister Gabriel Attal told the "BFMTV" station that about 300 girls defied the decision to ban the abaya in schools and attended Monday morning in this dress.

He added that most of them agreed to change this dress, but 67 refused and were sent home.

In 2016, the State Council overturned a ban imposed by a resort on the French Riviera on the burkini, saying that it had not noticed any threat to public order from the long swimsuits worn by some Muslim women.

Muslims make up about 10 percent of France's 67 million population, according to official estimates.

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