French education minister files suit over false letter
The French education minister filed a suit on Monday over a false letter which circulated on Internet advising mayors to offer a weekly Arabic language class.
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"I strongly advise you to give the green light to this activity which aims at breaking down the linguistic barriers that our children could encounter in the near future" says the letter signed in the name of the education minister, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem.
The document widely spread on social networks in France was complete with fake letterhead of the ministry, and calls mayors to "offer a voluntary hour per week to discover the Arabic language".
This came after the French school timetables were reshuffled last year and are still facing lots of criticism in the country.
The reform of the school system includes attending school on Wednesday morning and introducing activities some afternoons on Tuesday and Friday such as learning a foreign language, music, sport, drawing...
Vallaud-Belkacem was born in Morocco and has found herself the target of numerous attacks from the far-right because of her roots, especially since she was appointed to the Ministry of Education two weeks ago.
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