France bans home-schooling in fight against Islamic extremism

France has passed a bill that bans parents from home-schooling their children. Under the new measure that was unveiled last Wednesday, parents could face a jail term of up to six months if they choose to teach children at home in place of regular schooling.

The decision to list home-schooling as a crime was reportedly made after ministers have come forward with reports that Muslim parents were refusing to let their children go to school.
Interior minister, Gérald Darmanin said the number of girls that are being kept at home and away from school most certainly outnumber the boys.

According to an article on The Times, this is one way French President Emmanuel Macron has made his point to speak strongly against radical Islam. The French president vows to combat Islamic extremism and to stop children from being influenced by hard-line religious beliefs of radicals in France.

Macron cited how children from ultraconservative Muslim families are being taken out of school, and how sporting and cultural associations are being used to indoctrinate youth.

Parents will only be allowed to home-school their child if going to school is "impossible for reasons relating to (the child's) situation or that of the family". Each child will be provided with an ID number to ensure they are continuously attending their classes. Parents who ignore and violate the law could be fined up to £6,709 apart from facing jail time.

Included in the new legislation are ways to ensure schools can stand against unwarranted demands to play down sex education and religious classes. Other measures include giving power to local councils to refuse separate swimming times for men and women as well as enable them to crackdown on hate speech on social media platforms.

The bill also prohibits anyone from sharing someone else's personal information in a manner that could lead them to be identified, located and targeted by people with harmful intentions.

All this comes after the horrific death of French teacher Samuel Paty, who was beheaded in October when he showed cartoon images of the Prophet Mohammed to his students during a lesson on free speech.

Leading up to Samuel Paty's gruesome murder, he became the target of an online smear campaign as his name was shared online by the father of one of his students who also exchanged messages with Paty's killer.