Dalila Cherigui, school director, promotes secularism at school

In her office at the town hall of Roubaix (North) where she receives us, Dalila Cherigui remembers: “At the end of 2015, the Blaise-Pascal elementary school that I directed was in turmoil. Teachers, parents and students debated endlessly about the Mohammed caricatures. The attacks had just impacted our good life together. I found the stigmatization of the Muslim population very unfair and this pushed me to action.”

Philosophy debates from kindergarten in the presence of parents, shows or photo novels on the charter of secularism at school: concerned with appeasement, Dalila Cherigui invents educational tools to develop students’ critical thinking.

Training for municipal agents

In June 2016, his establishment won the first national prize for Citizenship Education. “The day the prize was awarded, we had to meet at 4 a.m. in front of the school to go to Paris by bus. When the invited mothers arrived, they had veiled themselves with blue, white and red scarves. It was a clear sign that we had transmitted the right benchmarks. I still get chills.”

In 2020, Dalila Cherigui became deputy mayor in charge of education, secularism and citizenship of Roubaix, which has 43 schools in the priority education network out of 48. In her first steps as an elected official, she is accompanied by Muriel Chochois, a senior civil service executive who followed the Emouna course, a training course dedicated to interfaith dialogue created at Sciences Po following the 2015 attacks. decisive meeting. “With Muriel, we developed training for the city’s municipal agents,” she explains.

Clarify what the law allows

Together, the two women organized dozens of debates in the neighborhoods and developed a booklet directly responding to citizens’ questions about diets, wearing the veil, public holidays, etc. “Dalila immediately had the reflex to involve families in our actions,” specifies Muriel Chochois.

“The school fulfills its mission better with the cooperation of parents. My people educated me to respect republican values. My father was a textile worker in Roubaix and my mother was a housewife. Originally from Algeria, they practiced the Muslim religion in a sober manner, at a time when religious symbols were less present in public spaces. As they are more visible today, it is necessary to clarify what the law authorizes or not,” argues Dalila Cherigui.

7 p.m. already. Dalila, still full-time school principal, must leave us. When I ask her if she doesn’t want to rest, she replies with a smile: “Rest? My commitment to the Republic comes first!”

To consult the brochure “Did you say “secularism”? »: bit.ly/brochureroubaix