France’s lower house of parliament voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to ban students from wearing Islamic head scarves and other religious apparel in public schools.
The classroom ban, which also applies to Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses, was approved 494-36. In early March, the measure will go to the Senate, where there is little opposition.
The measure was expected to take effect in September. Applying the law could be the real test: Critics say it’s too vague, will create chaos in the classroom, and will inflame anti-French feelings among the nation’s large Muslim minority.
The bill stipulates that “in schools, junior high schools and high schools, signs and dress that conspicuously show the religious affiliation of students are forbidden.” It would not apply to students in private schools or to French schools in other countries.
Sanctions for refusing to remove conspicuous religious symbols and clothing would range from a warning, to temporary suspension from school, to expulsion.
The bill got far more than the 288 votes in the 577-seat National Assembly needed to pass — a measure of its wide popularity within France, demonstrated repeatedly in public opinion polls.
French leaders hope a law will quell the debate over head scarves that has divided France since 1989, when two young girls were expelled from their school in Creil, outside Paris, for wearing head scarves. Scores more have been expelled since then.
The government argues that a law is needed to protect France’s secular traditions and to ward off rising Islamic fundamentalism.
“This law is for us indispensable,” said Martine David, a Socialist lawmaker. Teachers “need a clear judicial framework.”
Parliament’s majority party — the Union for a Popular Movement — agreed Thursday to a last-minute amendment by the Socialists that calls for an evaluation of the law a year after it takes effect.
Lawmakers want the option, if necessary, of being able to alter language banning “conspicuous” symbols to “visible” ones — in order to eliminate vagueness or ambiguity.
The governing UMP party also added an amendment to ensure that mediation takes place before any sanctions are imposed — another Socialist suggestion.
France has been widely condemned in the Arab and Muslim world, where thousands of protesters from Beirut to Baghdad have made known their indignation and opposition to a head scarf ban.
The issue has also proven to be sharply divisive among France’s Muslims — at 5 million, Western Europe’s largest Islamic community. Many believe that banning head scarves is a way to exclude Muslim girls from public schools and further ostracize their community.
Quelling or fueling conflict?
Sociologist Farhad Khosrokhavar says the law will be “the beginning of the problem.”
“Even those who do not wear the head scarf will feel offended,” said Khosrokhavar, author of “The Head Scarf and the Republic.”
“Instead of fighting against Islamic radicalism, it might encourage it,” he told Associated Press Television News.
But other Muslims here believe the key to successful integration is to live the values of their adopted land.
“I arrived in France and adapted to this country,” said 65-year-old Telly Naar, who came from Morocco 40 years ago. “Each should be able to practice religion at home. If one wants to wear the headscarf outside, fine, but not inside a school that is secular.”
Some said the debate helped expose the danger of Islamic fundamentalism and will help roll back radicalism.
“Until now families were alone in fighting fundamentalists, often in the shadows, and at danger to their safety,” said Hanifa Cherifi, mediator for the national education system on the head scarf issue in schools.
The debate “lifted the veil on fundamentalist thinking, which is taking a population hostage,” she said on French parliamentary TV.
