Rector of French school resigns after death threat over discussion about wearing headscarf

An argument broke out, during which the rector allegedly used violence, according to the student. The rector strongly denied it and is supported by the authorities. French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has announced that the state will file suit against the student for defamation. A 26-year-old man from a Paris suburb has been arrested over the death threat.

Gory videos

In addition, almost two hundred cyber attacks have taken place on schools in recent weeks. Hackers penetrated the school’s digital system and spread threats of attacks, often accompanied by gory videos.

The threats have caused great unrest in French education, where teachers have previously fallen victim to Islamist violence. In October, teacher Dominique Bernard was stabbed to death in Arras by a radicalized former student from the Russian republic of Ingushetia. In 2020, Samuel Paty was beheaded by a man of Chechen descent after showing a cartoon of Mohammed in a lesson on freedom of expression.

The laïcité, the strict separation of church and state, is a cornerstone of the French republic. Public servants are not allowed to wear any religious insignia, whether it is a headscarf, cross or yarmulke. However, this does not apply to citizens: in principle they can wear whatever they want.

An exception was made in 2004 with the ban on headscarves at school. The measure was justified by pointing to the central position of education in the integration of minorities. The school had to be a neutral space in which students were temporarily freed from the social pressure of their environment, so that they could be raised to become free French citizens.

Open up

After the 2015 attacks, the role of the school became even more important. The school had to ‘save the republic in danger’, the historian Sébastien Ledoux recently said Le Monde. Education had to fight against the radical and undemocratic ideas that some students were taught at home, so that they could open themselves up to ‘the values ​​of the republic’.

This policy put teachers in the line of fire. According to a recent report by the French Senate, they experience ‘terrible loneliness’ in the face of the threats and aggression they have to endure. According to education unions, incidents are quite rare, but they are part of reality in education.

The resignation of the rector in Paris confirms the image of a school under pressure in a tense society. Politicians from left and right expressed their support for the rector. “A new defeat for our secular republic,” said communist senator Pierre Ouzoulias on X. He called for support for the 2004 headscarf ban, a law that he believes promotes the emancipation of Muslim girls.