French authorities began implementing a recently announced prohibition on the abaya, a Muslim dress for women, in schools on Monday, marking the return of students across the country to classrooms.

The government had declared its intention to ban the abaya in schools the previous month, contending that it violated the principles of secularism in education, which had already led to the prohibition of Muslim headscarves on the grounds that they symbolize religious affiliation.

This move elicited support from the political right but faced opposition from the hard-left, which perceived it as an encroachment on civil liberties.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, while visiting a school in northern France, reported a smooth start to the day with no incidents.

However, she noted that in some schools, girls had arrived wearing abayas. Some agreed to remove them, while discussions and educational approaches were planned for others to make them aware of the applicable law.

ALSO READ: Niger’s junta orders police to remove French ambassador

The hard-left accused President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist government of attempting to align with Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally and veering further to the right with the abaya ban.

Education Minister Gabriel Attal disclosed that 513 schools had been identified as potential sites affected by the ban as the school year began.

France has approximately 45,000 schools, and 12 million students returned to school on Monday. Efforts had been made before the school year to anticipate potential issues and deploy trained school inspectors to certain institutions.

However, Attal expressed reservations about imposing a ban on parents wearing religiously significant attire when accompanying their children on school outings, emphasizing the distinction between in-school and outside-school settings.

Some right-wing figures called for mandatory school uniforms in state schools, and Attal hinted at announcing a uniform trial in the autumn, though he remained cautious about its effectiveness as a one-size-fits-all solution.

The March 2004 law prohibited “the wearing of signs or outfits by which students ostensibly show a religious affiliation” in schools, encompassing items like large crosses, Jewish kippas, and Islamic headscarves.

Abayas, unlike headscarves, had previously existed in a legal gray area and had not faced an outright ban until now.