France’s Education Minister made headlines around the world when he announced that the abaya, a robe worn by Muslim women and girls, would be banned in French state schools.
Gabriel Attal – a long-time supporter and friend of Emmanuel Macron – said the policy will come into effect at the start of the new school year.
The loose-fitting long robe is considered too closely linked with Islam, the education secretary said at a press conference in Paris, sparking fury from Muslim leaders and critics.
Aged just 34, Attal is the youngest Education Minister in France’s modern history, and is widely considered a rising star in French politics.
Having been promoted into his post just a month before announcing the abaya ban, Attal quickly made his mark on France’s education system and courted controversy.
France’s Education Minister made headlines around the world when he announced the abaya would be banned in state schools
![Abayas are considered too closely linked with Islam, the education secretary said at a press conference in Paris](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/08/29/01/74815279-12454075-image-a-13_1693270047279.jpg)
Abayas are considered too closely linked with Islam, the education secretary said at a press conference in Paris
France has a strict ban on religious signs in state schools and government buildings, because they violate laws on secularism.
The latest policy comes after France banned the wearing of full-face veils in public in 2010, provoking anger among Muslims about so-called ‘Burqa Ban’.
Announcing the ban, which will come into force on September 4, Attal said: ‘When you walk into a classroom, you shouldn’t be able to identify the pupils’ religion just by looking at them.
‘I have decided that the abaya can no longer be worn in schools.’
Attal has caught the attention of the world’s media, having spent most of his adult life in politics.
He was one of the first to publicly back Macron when he decided to run for president in 2017 and became an MP soon after.
He quickly rose up the ranks, becoming a junior minister and taking up the role of government spokesperson during the Covid pandemic.
![Attal was one of the first to publicly back Macron when he decided to run for president in 2017. Pictured: Macron and Attal while he was still a junior minister in 2019](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/08/29/01/74815283-12454075-image-m-15_1693270151183.jpg)
Attal was one of the first to publicly back Macron when he decided to run for president in 2017. Pictured: Macron and Attal while he was still a junior minister in 2019
![Attal has caught the attention of the world's media, having spent most of his adult life in politics](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/08/29/01/74815275-12454075-image-a-16_1693270242723.jpg)
Attal has caught the attention of the world’s media, having spent most of his adult life in politics
His own education and upbringing in Paris attracted attention when he was made education secretary, overseeing France’s public schools as someone who attended private school.
‘Yes, I went to private school,’ he told reporters last month. ‘I don’t have to deny or apologise for this choice my parents made at the time.
‘I do not believe that the fight is to criticize those who make this choice… The fight is to guarantee that the whole school can provide all parents with the essentials of what they expect for children.’
When appointed a junior minister in 2018, Attal became the youngest minister in the history of the Fifth Republic.
![The media savvy politician has been effective at using Instagram and other platforms to promote his image, regularly taking selfies with the youngsters his policies effect](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/08/29/01/74815285-12454075-image-a-12_1693270040725.jpg)
The media savvy politician has been effective at using Instagram and other platforms to promote his image, regularly taking selfies with the youngsters his policies effect
He is also one half of a French political power couple, being in a civil union with Stéphane Séjourné, a member of the European Parliament for La République En Marche!.
Attal was outed as gay by his former high school classmate and enemy, lawyer Juan Branco, in 2018.
‘He wrote that I was relieved when my father died, because according to him I could live my homosexuality more openly,’ Attal told the newspaper Liberation.
Attal’s father, who died of cancer, was a Jewish movie producer and his mother is an Orthodox Christian.
He has been the subject of both homophobic and antisemitic abuse from trolls, previously admitting he gets ‘bucketloads of vomit’ from haters online.
But the media savvy politician has been effective at using Instagram and other platforms to promote his image, regularly taking selfies with the youngsters his policies effect and sharing snaps from his frequent meet and greets.
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