Turbans banned from schools in new French law

Sikh schoolboys must exchange their turbans for a hair net when a new law banning religious apparel in France’s public schools takes effect in September.

The Sikh community was shocked today when Education Minister Francois Fillon made the announcement.

He also confirmed Muslim girls can only wear bandannas in schools that allow them, according to the minister.

Fillon spoke after education officials adopted – with some misgivings – a set of guidelines to help school officials apply the law, which was enacted in March after a marathon parliament debate.

The law forbids conspicuous religious symbols and attire in the classroom such as the Jewish skull cap and large Christian crosses, but it is chiefly aimed at the Muslim head scarf.

Fillon said later that an “arrangement” had been made with Sikhs to replace the traditional head gear with hair nets.

“We’ve come up with an arrangement,” Fillon said. “They accept wearing a hair net. It’s less aggressive, less showy,” he said.

Representatives of the small Sikh community of 5,000-7,000 said they were unaware of any such arrangement. On the contrary, they said, Sikh representatives had received a letter from a counsellor to Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, dated May 10, that provided “conditional assurance” that Sikh boys could wear turbans in class.

“We were told that we could wear turbans because we never posed a problem,” said Karmvir Singh, a Paris member of United Sikhs, expressing surprise.

“A hair net has no place and no meaning,” said the director of United Sikhs, Hardyal Singh, based in New York. “It’s appalling,” he added.

The school guidelines go beyond attire to forbid students from refusing certain courses – like physical education or biology – for religious reasons or rejecting professors based on their gender.

The guidelines also forbid absences for religious reasons beyond major holidays.

The new law is aimed at safeguarding the French principle of secularism, considered under threat by Muslim’s growing militancy over their identity and the practice by some girls of wearing head scarves to school.