Abaya ban at school: High school student excluded from her class in Lyon because of the kimono she wore

Secularism His family filed a complaint for “discrimination due to religious affiliation”, while the Lyon rectorate denies the exclusion

In Lyon, the mother of a 15-year-old high school student filed a complaint after her daughter was excluded from a class for refusing to take off the kimono she was wearing. —A. GELEBART/20 MINUTES

• On Tuesday, a 15-year-old high school student was excluded from her class for refusing to take off the kimono she had worn over her t-shirt.
• The next evening, his family filed a complaint for discrimination.
• The Lyon rectorate, which denies the exclusion, responds that the head of the establishment has only applied the directives transmitted by the Minister of National Education.

“This’is quite simply an offense of sexual misconduct.” A few hours after filing complaint to the Lyon prosecutor for “discrimination due to religious affiliation”, Nabil Boudi does not take offense. Tuesday, the day of the start of the school year and her entry into second grade, her client, a 15-year-old high school student, was arrested. excluded from a course because of their dress code. Namely a kimono that she had worn as a jacket over a black T-shirt and jeans.

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“The day before, this young girl presented herself during the pre-entry and there was no difficulty at all. on her outfit. The next day she went to her class. There was no difficulty. of the teaching staff,” he assures. Everything would have changed. when “the CPE” burst into the class to “give a general reminder of the operating rules.”

“A humiliation”

< p>“He pointed at her and asked her to get closer. He will catch her in front of all the other students in her class and ask her to take off her kimono. She responded by explaining that it’s not at all a question of religious clothing,” says Nabil Boudi, also deploring that the educational adviser “ did not wait for the end of class or the break » to talk to him aside. “Then he asked her; to leave the class and go to the headmaster's office manu militari,” he continues. What she experienced as “a humiliation” in front of comrades she did not know, being new to the establishment.

Faced with the principal, the high school student then refused to accept the request. took off his clothes and was killed. invited to return to his home, the lawyer still assures. What the Lyon rectorate contests. “This student hasn’t been trained. excluded from high school. She came back to class in the afternoon,” he told her. 20 Minutes.

“It’s not true,” retorts Nabil Boudi, however, adding that the young girl resumed lessons the next day, “ the request of his parents who did what was necessary to be received» by the management team. “We explained à my client that she had been seen around the high school with a veil or headband in her hair. And therefore, they deduced that she was of Muslim faith, says the lawyer. This kimono was a pretext. If her name was Jessica, Sophie or Lucie, we would never have blamed her for this. to wear a kimono. It”s simply discrimination.”

A “margin of appreciation on the outfits worn by students”

“The head of the establishment followed the instructions contained in the minister’s memo sent on August 31,” defends the rectorate, refuting these accusations but taking “  act of the family’s choice to file a complaint.”

“This memorandum concerns the wearing of “abaya or qami type” outfits and not strictly the abayas or qamis, which entitles the head of the establishment to “a margin of appreciation on the outfits worn by the students,” he adds. And to conclude: “The phase of dialogue with the students requested by this same memorandum has been completed. respected since the student was received by the management team the same day at the end of the morning. During this exchange it was said to him. reminder the rule. »