France to overhaul secularism teaching to help stop radicalisation Education minister says pupils should be taught that separation of church and state is there to protect them, accusing rightwing politicians of twisting principle
The French principle of secularism has been twisted by politicians and so often wrongly used to attack Islam that schoolchildren have been left baffled, the French education minister has warned.
Najat Vallaud-Belkacem told the Guardian that after last year's devastating jihadi attacks in Paris, France was overhauling the teaching of secularism and civic values as part of the country's drive against terrorism and radicalisation.
"We have to reappropriate the concept of laïcité [secularism] so we can explain to our young pupils that whatever their faith, they belong to this idea and they're not excluded. Secularism is not something against them; it protects them," she said.