France's education minister Pap Ndiaye said that there were "about 500 cases" of breaches of secularism in French schools this March – figures that were up on previous months – due to the observance of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Ndiaye was speaking on France 3 television on Sunday about the so-called "barometer" that France uses to record the wearing of religious symbols, dress code, verbal provocation, the rejection of republican values in over 59,000 schools, colleges and senior high schools.
The education minister told the "Dimanche en Politique" programme that: "The figures ... show a decrease since a peak in October [as] there is always a peak in [then] linked in particular to the commemoration of the murder of Samuel Paty."
Teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded by an 18-year-old Islamist outside Paris in 2020 following a social media campaign that criticised him showing cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed as part of his civic education class.
Atteintes à la laïcité : le ministre de l'éducation nationale a noté une augmentation des cas signalés au moment du #Ramadan. @LouisHausalter @MarianneleMag @letellier_ftv @France3tv #DIMPOL #DimancheEnPolitique pic.twitter.com/OSLDgs4awe
— DimancheEnPolitique (@DimPolitique) May 7, 2023
Rise and fall of breaches in secular rules
"And then there is always a rise, every year at the time of Ramadan," Ndiaye added without giving any details on the nature of the attacks on secularism during the Muslim holy month.
The minister said about 500 cases were recorded for the month of March, but the figures are expected to drop because of the end of Ramadan and also the spring holidays.
Reports of breaches of secularism numbered 720 in October, according to France's education ministry, with a high proportion of incidents linked to the wearing of religious symbols and clothing.
However, they reportedly dropped to 353 in November.
Professors suspended for criticising education system on-line
When asked about a recent case of two philosophy teachers who were suspended for three months for their repeated and controversial comments on social networks, Ndiaye said that the comments from the teachers were unacceptable.
"We are talking about outrageous, conspiratorial and insulting comments of great violence".
"We guarantee the right to free expression, but this type of comment does not fall within the right to free expression," he insisted.
The two are accused of sharing videos and content on social networks, likely to damage "the image and reputation of the public service of national education".
