French anti-racist groups and teaching unions are demanding an inquiry into a controversial request made by French police to schools regarding the number of students absent on the Muslim festival of Eid.
The Ministry of the Interior confirmed this month that it asked certain schools in Toulouse to evaluate absenteeism on Eid al-Fitr, but denied that it was a census on faith, citing secularism laws that forbid gathering statistics on religion.
The police sent emails directly to school principals in Toulouse, bypassing the approval of the Toulouse rectorate, as part of an intelligence service request to calculate the percentage of absenteeism during the Eid holiday.
The incident has been criticized as a serious violation of Muslim students’ freedom of conscience and an act of stigmatization.
Human rights group SOS Racisme expressed shock at the association of Muslim religious practice with security issues and questioned why the ministry only requested an assessment of absenteeism rates for Muslim holidays.
The Sud-Education teachers’ union expressed bewilderment over the initiative’s lack of discussion.
Calls have been made for a proper investigation by the Union of Mosques of France.
The Ministry of the Interior acknowledged making the request for absenteeism information but denied any intent to classify students by religion.
