France expels students for hijab violation

Wednesday 20 October 2004, 1:44 Makka Time, 22:44 GMT

Two teenage schoolgirls have been expelled from a school in eastern France for ignoring the controversial ban on Islamic headscarfs.

All religious insignia including the Muslim headscarf, the Christian cross and the Sikh turban have been banned from state schools in France under a new law that came into force early in September.

The two girls were expelled after efforts by the school authorities to persuade them to abide by the law failed.

“In the past two months we have had several meetings with the families and with these students,” Michelle Feder-Cunin, headmistress at the Jean Mace school in the city of Mulhouse, said.

Persuasion

The aim of the meetings had been to explain to the girls, identified as Dounia, 12 and Khouloude, 13, the need to comply with the terms of the law.

Under the law, school authorities must first try to persuade girls to remove the headscarf and only if they persist in refusing can they be expelled.

The parents of the two students have eight days to appeal the expulsions.

There are at present 72 school students within the state school system in France who are currently breaking the new law, according to education ministry figures.