They have not been compulsory in state schools in mainland France since 1968. But uniforms have made a return to one town as part of a government pilot scheme to establish if they can reduce inequality – and improve behaviour.
About 700 pupils at four schools in the southern town of Béziers became the first to introduce a uniform on Monday in a scheme that the government says could be rolled out nationwide if successful.
About 92 schools have signed up to the experiment, according to the education minister, Nicole Belloubet. Unlike Béziers, she said, most had been “more discreet” about it.
“What we would like to see is if, yes or no, wearing a uniform can create tranquillity in classrooms,” Belloubet said. “We know you learn better in a peaceful environment.”
During the half-term holiday, pupils in Béziers, which is run by the far right and where there is a high rate of unemployment, were invited to come with their parents to pick up their outfits: a navy blue blazer with the school logo, two white polo shirts, a grey pullover and one pair of trousers, as well as a pair of shorts for boys or a skirt for girls.
The city and local education authority are sharing the €200 (£171) cost of each uniform.
Robert Menard, the mayor of Béziers, said uniforms would help combat bullying. “When you’re rich or poor, you don’t dress exactly the same way,” he said. “Now it will be less visible.”
But the SE-Unsa teachers’ union said it was “a superficial response to a fundamental problem” and it would “in no way help resolve the troubles and failures of students”.
Schools have until June to sign up to the initiative. Critics, including many parents, say the money would be better spent in other areas of public education.
A Marseille school was due to take part, but 66% of pupils voted against it, AFP reported. In the Brittany village of Plouisy, the mayor from Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party signed up for the experiment but pulled out after complaints from angry parents.
“Public [state] schools should never try to ape the worst excesses of private schools,” parents wrote in an open letter of protest, adding that uniforms would never completely eradicate “inequalities and discrimination”.
Michel Tondellier, a sociologist and lecturer at Antilles University who wrote a book on the subject of uniforms, said: “A poor child wearing a uniform remains a poor child. One-size-fits-all clothing will not eradicate socioeconomic inequalities, but only attenuate their most visible aspects.”
Uniforms were first introduced in secondary schools in France by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802, who wanted to instil more military-style discipline in the education system, and were modelled on army outfits. They have not been compulsory in state schools in mainland France since 1968, seen as a watershed moment in French society because of the civil unrest that dominated the spring.
The debate over whether they should be reinstated resurfaced in 2003 when the subject was raised by a former education minister, but the plan lacked government support.
In 2016 the rightwing presidential candidate François Fillon and the far-right leader Marine Le Pen included the imposition of school uniforms in their election manifesto. The following year, the then education minister, Jean-Michel Blanquer, said he was in favour of uniforms.
The French first lady, Brigitte Macron, a former drama teacher, and the prime minister, Gabriel Attal, formerly the education minister, have expressed support for uniforms.
Parents are divided about the utility of introducing uniforms: some have suggested it will lead to more apparent equality while others have pointed out that inequalities can be still expressed in such items as shoes, scarves, mobile phones and backpacks.
“It would be more intelligent to train more and better paid teachers,” one man told La Voix du Nord newspaper.