Saliège School in Toulouse: an attack on secularism according to several unions
A week after its inauguration in the Lalande district of Toulouse, the Jules-Géraud Saliège school group is already causing controversy. In the name of respect for the principles of secularism, several education unions are protesting against the fact of having given this public school the name of a Catholic prelate. “We understand the reasoning that led to this choice, but it is not the best, especially since, according to our Unsa colleagues from the Toulouse town hall, Marion Lalane de Laubadère, elected in charge of the file, had proposed women’s names. This was not Jean-Luc Moudenc’s final choice. It is regrettable”, asserts Cyril Lepoint, departmental secretary Unsa Education 31. “Other secular characters could have given their name to this establishment. There is already a Saliège high school in Toulouse. There was no need to pay him a new tribute, ”adds Annick Calamet, from Fnec FP FO. “There are enough people to honor in Toulouse, women who have marked the history of the city for example”, adds Abdallah Amghar, of the CGT Educ 31. These last two organizations are calling for a new name for the establishment.
Referral to the monitoring unit on developments in secularism
Even more than the reference to an ecclesiastic, was he”righteous among the nations“, it is the explanatory plaque placed in the hall of the school which crystallizes the criticisms. Jules-Géraud Saliège appears there in religious dress, with his coat of arms and his Latin motto under illius shadow (in the shadow of the . . .