At the Toulouse Academy (southwest), the police asked the heads of educational departments via e-mail to inform them of the number of students who were absent on the day of Eid al-Fitr. Union officials and politicians expressed concern about this initiative on the part of the police.
The French Ministry of the Interior asked some educational institutions to conduct an “assessment of the absenteeism rate recorded on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr,” which sparked controversy in the country.
“The Ministry of the Interior and Overseas regularly studies the impact of certain religious holidays on the proper functioning of public services, especially in the school field,” said the Minister of State in charge of Citizenship Affairs, Sonia Pakis, in a statement Sunday.
“In this context, it was possible to request an assessment of the absenteeism rate on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr on April 21 from the heads of some educational departments,” she added.
“At no time were any named or statistical data requested,” she said, adding that the initiative did not involve a desire to “place files” for students in accordance with their religion.
At the Toulouse Academy (southwest), the police asked the heads of educational departments via e-mail to inform them of the number of students who were absent on the day of Eid al-Fitr.
Union officials and politicians expressed concern about this initiative on the part of the police, and some, like former Socialist MP Jean-Christophe Cambadles, spoke of “drawing profiles all over the city”.
SOS Racist said the police request was “particularly shocking because it links Muslim religious practice to a security issue”.
She asked, “What are the other religious holidays that the Ministry of Interior asked the heads of educational departments to assess the percentage of absenteeism?”
For its part, the Federation of French Mosques called for an “appropriate investigation”. And he stressed that “families must be properly informed and reassured about what will happen with information provided by some heads of educational institutions who, unfortunately, responded to the policemen’s request.”
