the Ministry of the Interior admits to having asked for an assessment, but not a file

The Ministry of the Interior has asked certain academies for a “assessment of the absenteeism rate observed during Eid-El-Fitr”but denies everything “file”said Sunday, May 21, the Secretary of State for Citizenship, Sonia Backès, in the face of the indignation aroused by the initiative.

“The Ministry of the Interior and Overseas Territories regularly studies the impact of certain religious holidays on the functioning of public services, and in particular within the school sphere.said Sonia Backès in a press release. It is in this context that an assessment of the rate of absenteeism noted on the occasion of the Eid-El-Fitr holiday, on April 21, was requested, in certain academies, from the heads of establishment. »

“No personal data was neither requested nor recorded at any time”specified Sonia Backès, who affirms that the initiative did not come from a will of “file” students according to their denomination.

“Filing”, “casualty”

In the Toulouse academy, police asked the heads of Toulouse schools, by email, to tell them the number of students absent on the day of Eid-El-Fitr. Association, trade union or political leaders were concerned about this police initiative, some like the former socialist deputy Jean-Christophe Cambadélis evoking “a citywide listing”.

The police request is “particularly shocking in that it associates Muslim religious practice with a question of security”said for his part SOS Racisme, recalling that the request to schools came from the departmental directorate of public security (DDSP).

Later, on Sunday, the association reacted to Sonia Backès’ press release by accusing the Ministry of the Interior of showing “guilty casualness when it comes to explaining an act that falls within (…) of an instruction that he issued”. “For which other religious holidays has the Ministry of the Interior requested an assessment of the rate of absenteeism from the heads of establishments”wondered the association in its press release.

No approval from the rectorate

The president of SOS Racisme, Dominique Sopo, also castigated a logic “concealment” intentions of the Ministry of the Interior. The Sud Éducation trade union, for its part, denounced “Islamophobic excesses” in administration. “AESH colleagues and agents have been refused leave of absence” for the day of the feast, unlike the teachers, he also indicated.

The Union of French Mosques, for its part, has asked for a “due investigation”. “Families must be duly informed and reassured of the future of the information given by certain heads of establishments who, unfortunately, responded to the request of the police”, she considered.

The request of the police had been made directly to the establishments concerned, without the approval of the rectorate of Toulouse. “Under no circumstances do we carry out investigations of this kind”, said Mostafa Fourar, rector of the academy. A source familiar with the matter had mentioned a ” clumsiness “ in the formulation of the request relayed by the national education referent police officers, for the benefit of territorial intelligence.