The Minister of Education reacted strongly this Friday, June 16 to the call of the mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi who denounced the eve of the “muslim prayers” And “a minute of silence for Muhammad” in the playground of three schools in his town. Pap Ndiaye described as“intolerable”these prayers pronounced by about fifteen schoolchildren in Nice during the lunch break and announced the opening of an administrative investigation.
“Intolerable”
The Minister of Education denounced in a press release “very serious breaches of the principle of secularism” in three elementary schools in Nice, a middle school and a high school in the Alpes-Maritimes. “Some students organized religious times and prayers during the midday break,” he reports, recalling that the principle of secularism must be respected both in class time and in extracurricular time.
“Such facts are intolerable in the School of the Republic and must be the subject of a firm, collective and resolute response”castigated the minister. “The School of the Republic is a sanctuary for all our children, it is our duty to protect it from any religious entryism. »
In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister and posted on Twitter, Christian Estrosi wrote that he had been informed by the academy inspector of “extremely serious facts, which took place in various establishments of [sa] city ”. He evokes “children in CM1 and CM2 who said the Muslim prayer in the courtyard of their establishment or organized a minute of silence in memory of the Prophet Muhammad in their school”.
Investigation
According to the minister, the principals of the schools concerned summoned the parents of the pupils and “specific sequences on secularism have been organized within the framework of moral and civic education for the attention of all the pupils of the schools concerned”.
An investigation by the General Inspectorate has also been carried out to “precisely establish the facts and draw useful conclusions”.
The rectorate indicated that it had informed the town hall of these facts on June 14. According to the rector of the Nice Academy, Natacha Chicot, quoted by nice morning a report for radicalization was made, after a child of CM1-CM2 launched “a call for a minute of silence in memory of the prophet at the midday break”.
In the two separate schools, the rector evokes prayers followed by a dozen children in one, and a group of three children in the other, always during the meridian break. Finally, a prayer was also reported in a college and the wearing of an abaya (long traditional dress covering the body) was reported in a high school.
“It’s a first in the academy to have elementary schools”commented the rector to the local newspaper, noting that the age of the children.
The rector ensures that “Valeurs de la République agents intervened in the establishments to establish dialogue and establish a relationship with the parents”adding that“there has been no recurrence since the reports in these schools”.
Additional training
The Minister for National Education and the Mayor of Nice have also jointly decided that the “secularism and values of the Republic” training courses will “now the subject of a common module bringing together all the personnel. »
And to add: “ At the national level, additional measures will be agreed with associations of local elected officials from the next instance of dialogue with local authorities to be held on July 3.
