According to Rahyafte(the missionaries and converts website):According to French media, more than a dozen schoolchildren in three elementary schools in Nice, a middle school, and a high school in the Alpes-Maritimes were seen holding prayers during the lunch break recently. This has alarmed some political parties and groups who have described this practice as a very dangerous action that threatens the secularism of the school.
In a statement on Friday, Pap Ndiaye labeled the act of worship as “very serious breaches of the principle of secularism.”
“Such facts are intolerable in the School of the Republic and must be the subject of a firm, collective and resolute response,” he said.
The students are aged between 9 and 10 years old, reports suggest. According to the minister, an investigation has been launched into the prayers.
The Muslim students’ act has also drawn a reaction from the city’s mayor Christian Estrosi who wrote a letter to Prime Minister Elisabeth Bourne which he published on his Twitter account.
He wrote that he had been informed by the academy inspector of “extremely serious facts, which took place in various establishments of the city.” He also raised worries about the report that the students had “organized a minute of silence in memory of the Prophet Muhammad in their school.”
He urged the PM to resolve this “crisis” and find practical and effective solutions to preserve the secularism of primary schools.
The remarks come as the administration of Emmanuel Macron has been accused of promoting Islamophobia and anti-Muslim persecution under the pretext of counter-terrorism and secularism.
Muslims in France have faced a series of legislations they say have curtailed most of their freedoms since 2015. One law from 2016 restricted the wearing of religious symbols — such as the Hijab — in the workplace.
Another law from 2017 gave the government more control over the selection of imams (prayer leaders), claiming it would prevent the spread of radical Islam.
The government also closed down several Muslim-run organizations, such as mosques, charities, and nonprofits, including the Collective Against Islamophobia in France, which sought to combat discrimination against minority Muslims in France.
Critics argue that such policies have only fueled Islamophobia in the European country.
The media landscape has also portrayed Muslims in a more negative light, academics say, influenced by the 2022 presidential campaign of far-right candidates Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour, who focused much of their election speeches on the “dangers of Islam.”
Source: Agencies
