France debates where to teach Arabic: public school or local mosque?

As part of France’s fight against extremism, the Education Ministry announced a plan to take back control of Arabic teaching “in order to provide a secular curriculum rather than the one offered by associations, which can drift toward radicalization."

Students in an Arabic-language class at Claude Monet high school in Paris (Sara Farid/The New York Times)

Written by Emma Bubola

Early on Sunday mornings, Habiba Hatem, 9, prepares her own breakfast, grabs her flashy pink school bag and jumps into her father’s car — bound for Arabic lessons at her local mosque in a suburb north of Paris.

Colorful sketches of how to perform ritual washings decorate the walls of the classroom, along with drawings of butterflies, cars and carrots, with their Arabic names underneath.

“Today we are going to do a dialogue about ‘duyuf’ coming for dinner,” the teacher tells Habiba and a dozen other boys and girls ages 9 to 17, all born in France. “Duyuf means guests,” she says, writing the word on the blackboard.