France to maintain headscarf ban in spite of legal advice
The French government has decided to maintain its ban on headscarves for Muslim volunteer school monitors despite a warning that it oversteps the law requiring religious neutrality in the public service.
The council of state, which advises on disputed administrative issues, said in a 32-page analysis this neutrality did not apply to mothers who help escort schoolchildren on outings such as museum visits. But the education minister, Vincent Peillon, announced the ban would continue because the council also said that schools could impose internal rules against religious wear. "The memo [establishing the ban] remains valid," he said.
France imposed the ban last year as one of several steps in recent years to tighten its policy of strict secularism. It banned headscarves for pupils in state schools 10 years ago and outlawed full-face Muslim veils in public in 2011. It has also considered extending this religious neutrality, which has long been the rule in public service, to some businesses such as private child daycare centres.
Muslim groups have denounced the increasingly strict limits on religious wear as discrimination against them. France's five-million strong Muslim minority is the largest in Europe.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/23/france-maintains-muslim-headscarf-ban