Brigitte Macron backs compulsory school uniforms in France

The French president’s wife, Brigitte Macron, has weighed into the politically charged debate in France on whether to introduce compulsory school uniforms as parliament prepares to debate the issue pushed by the far right.

Uniforms in French schools have not been obligatory since 1968 but have regularly returned to the political agenda.

“It erases differences, we save time – it’s time-consuming to choose how to dress in the morning – and money, compared to brands,” the French first lady told Le Parisien newspaper in an interview.

A retired Latin and literature teacher of 20 years, Macron, who met her later husband, Emmanuel Macron, in one of her after-school theatre classes, recalled wearing a uniform as a student for 15 years, a navy blue skirt and sweater, and told the paper she had coped with it well.

“So I am in favour of wearing a school uniform but with a simple and not dull outfit,” she said.

France’s national assembly is slated to debate compulsory school uniforms later on Thursday after Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National filed a motion to make wearing a uniform mandatory again.

The education minister, Pap Ndiaye, has previously said he was against imposing a uniform for all pupils.

For some, wearing a uniform means equality and erasing differences of social status and wealth. For others it is a debate that is not needed and is distracting from more serious issues such as discipline and harassment.