French Education Minister Gabriel Attal announced today that he supports experimenting with school uniforms amidst ongoing debate over the ban on wearing the hijab in public schools. Attal, who announced the hijab ban earlier this week, told French television channel "BFM" that he would provide a timeline in the fall for implementing a uniform trial in any schools that agree to participate. He stated, "I do not believe that uniforms in schools are a miraculous solution to all problems related to harassment, social differences, or secularism." However, he indicated that "we must conduct experiments and test how things go."
France has enforced a ban on religious symbols in public schools since 2004 to uphold its strict secular principle. The issue is sensitive and often stirs political tensions in the country. There has not been a mandatory school uniform in French schools since 1968, but it regularly reappears on the political agenda, mostly driven by conservative and far-right politicians.
