If a big number of young pupils felt secularism was an attack on them, it was because the term had been misused and deformed in the public debate for years by the extreme-right and the right as an attack on Islam. The term had often been misused to point out how Muslims were different to others, and that is clearly problematic.

Equality in education is my number one battle.

On certain, delicate subjects, bringing in outsiders to talk about values is pertinent because pupils listen to them more attentively.

Najat Vallaud-Belkacem Quotes