French conservatives are criticizing Macron’s plan, which includes €10 million every year for promoting Islamic culture and a ban on homeschooling
French schools should give priority to teach the Arabic language and the state will support the promotion of Islamic culture to the tune of €10 million a year, President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday, when announcing his new plan to combat Islamic separatism in French society, daily Le Figaro reports.
“What we have to tackle is Islamist separatism,” which “often results in the constitution of a counter-society,” Macron said in an hour-long speech. “We should not let ourselves be drawn into the trap of amalgamation set by polemicists and extremes which would result in the stigmatization of all Muslims.”
At the educational level, Macron announced a ban on homeschooling starting in 2021, with only exceptions made that will be “strictly limited for those with health requirements”. The French president said that school attendance will therefore be compulsory from the age of three.
“It is a necessity. I made a decision, without doubt one of the most radical since the laws of 1882 and those ensuring the co-education of boys and girls in 1969,” Macron said, adding that private schools “will be subject to enhanced controls”.