France's First Lady in favour of mandatory school uniforms - Le Parisien

By Marine Strauss

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - President Emmanuel Macron's wife Brigitte on Thursday weighed into the politically charged debate in France on whether to introduce compulsory school uniforms just ahead of a debate in parliament on the issue pushed by the far-right.

Uniforms in French schools have not been obligatory since 1968, but have regularly come back on the political agenda.

"It erases differences, we save time - it's time-consuming to choose how to dress in the morning - and money - compared to brands", French First Lady Brigitte Macron told Le Parisien newspaper in an interview.

A retired Latin and literature teacher of 20 years, Brigitte, who met her later husband Emmanuel in one of her after-school theatre classes, recalled wearing a uniform for fifteen years, a navy blue skirt and sweater as a student, telling the paper she coped with it well.

"So I am in favour of wearing a school uniform but with a simple and not dull outfit," Macron said.

The National Assembly is slated to debate compulsory school uniforms later on Thursday after Marine Le Pen's far-right Rassemblement National (RN) filed a motion to make wearing a uniform mandatory again.

Education minister Pap Ndiaye has previously said he was against imposing a uniform for all pupils.

For some, wearing a uniform means equality and erasing differences of social status and wealth. For others it is a debate that is not needed and is distracting from more serious issues such as discipline and harassment.

(Reporting by Marine Strauss @StraussMarine; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)