On Monday, December 9, the songs of children's choirs echoed within the walls of the Collège du Mont des Accords. “Liberty, equality, fraternity, secularism” were on everyone's lips on this national day of secularism.
On the stage of the multipurpose hall, CM2 pupils sing the Marseillaise, a miniature French flag in their hands. It is 9am and the day of celebration begins. In front of them, parents of pupils, the teaching staff and the various heads of the island's schools are gathered, accompanied by the vice-rector, Harry Christophe and the sub-prefect of Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy, Marie-Hildegarde Chauveau. A series of speeches on religion, ethnic differences and gender equality, presented by pairs of mixed pupils, moved the room throughout the morning. In front of an attentive audience, Harry Christophe recalled the foundations of secularism in schools based on the right to believe or not to believe: “This is a principle of individual freedom that must be guaranteed to everyone, within the school”.
For Marie-Hildegarde Chauveau, this principle represents “the 4th pillar of the republican edifice alongside liberty, equality and fraternity. Four values that allow the Republic to stand.” Promulgated on December 9, 119 years ago, the great law of secularism continues to unite, each year, young and old around humanist and universal values. _LM
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