Key Events in the Islamic Headscarf Controversy in France
   
1989

October 4: Three Muslim schoolgirls wearing the Islamic headscarf are expelled from the collège (secondary school) Gabriel-Havez in Creil (north of Paris).
  November 28: First Conseil d'Etat* ruling affirming that, in principle, the wearing of the Islamic headscarf, as a symbol of religious expression, in public schools is not incompatible with the French school system and the system of laïcité.
  December 7: Publication of the first ministerial circular** (circulaire Jospin) by which teachers must decide on a case-by-case basis whether to ban the wearing of the Islamic headscarf.
   
1990 January 19: Three schoolgirls are expelled from the collège Pasteur in Noyon, north of Paris
April 3: Parents of one expelled schoolgirl file a defamation action against the school principal of the collège Gabriel-Havez in Creil.
   
1993 October 13: Teachers at a collège in Nantua (eastern part of France, just to the west of Geneva, Switzerland) strike to protest against the wearing of the Islamic headscarf in school.
October 28: Publication of a second ministerial circular on the need to respect the principle of laïcité in public schools.
   
1994 September 21: Publication of the third ministerial circular (circulaire Bayrou) distinguishing between "discrete" symbols to be tolerated in public schools, and "ostentatious" symbols, including the Islamic headscarf, to be banned from public schools.
October 11: Student demonstrations at the lycée St. Exupery in Mantes-la-Jolie (northwest of Paris) to support the freedom of wearing the Islamic headscarf in school.
November 25: Approximately 24 veiled schoolgirls are expelled from the lycée (secondary school) St. Exupery in Mantes-la-Jolie and the lycée Faidherbe in the city of Lille.
   
   
1995 March 11: A Conseil d'Etat ruling confirms the expulsion of two veiled schoolgirls from the collège Xavier-Bichat in Nantua.
   
(Controversy to be continued in the next few years ...?)
   
 
* The Conseil d'Etat, the closest translation of which is "Council of State," is an advisory body of primary importance in France. As a high administrative authority, it can be solicited by the State and has the capacity to advise State authorities on various legal issues, including how conflicting interpretations of the law should be applied in particular cases; it has the final power to assure the unity of jurisprudence and the power to appeal all administrative rulings (de Laubadère, Venezia et al 1994).
** A circulaire, the closest translation of which is "circular," is a form of general prescription provided by heads of departments of State to officials who are under their authority concerning the interpretation and application of laws and regulations. It has the binding force for reasons of hierarchy in the same way as an order from a head of department has to be followed by a subordinate (de Laubadère, Venezia et al 1994).
 
 

Source: Lina Molokotos Liederman. Ecole Practique des Hautes Etudes, Sorbonne.


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