Headscarves have been a contentious issue not only in France, but in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Turkey, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and closer home in Singapore. Here, Le Figaro's Australia correspondent, Joëlle Dietrich, discusses France's ban on headscarves and other conspicuous religious symbols in public schools and the impact it will have on rest of Europe.

A lot of ink has been poured for and against the ban on `ostentatious religious symbols' such as veils, headscarves, yarmulkes or large crucifixes in France's state schools. The law was voted by an overwhelming majority (494/36) by the National Assembly in February 2004 and will move this month to the Senate where its approval is expected.

The issue is not new in France, where the ban has widespread public support, but it has sparked a virulent controversy in some countries, including in Australia, judging from the editorial columns and the reader's mails in the daily newspapers.

Critics point out that the proposed ban is a mark of intolerance, racism or a form of proselyte atheism which goes against the spirit of France's motto 'liberté, égalité, fraternité' and it's easy to interpret it that way.

Strictly speaking, the new law is meant to protect secularism in the Republic's institutions against religious zealots and maintain the status quo between various cultures in French schools. Teachers and politicians now see the increase of religious influence, particularly Muslim, as a threat to this cherished principle.

Former Prime Minister Alain Juppé, leader of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement party, spelt it out clearly when he said that an official ban on headscarves in public schools was necessary because of the increasing ties between religious fanaticism and political militancy.

This situation has developed gradually in the past 20 years as migration from Islamic countries has ballooned. More than 12 millions Muslims live in Western Europe today, nearly 5 million of them in France - over 4% of the population, which is by far the highest percentage in Europe. Even though only about 20% of them may be fervent Muslims, those who are not religiously minded are nonetheless increasingly feeling a cultural or political allegiance to Islam in the current international scenario.

The danger, of course, is that the ban will exacerbate divisions in a population already polarised on the issue of immigration. Many people of Maghrebin or Middle-Eastern origin, religiously inclined or not, consider the ban on headscarves as a personal or racial insult, feel offended and wear the scarf (or insist their daughters wear it) as a matter of pride. This has already happened in the past weeks with demonstrators wearing headscarves to show support to their 'sisters'.

Which brings us to the main protagonists of the story - girls. In the Islamic religion, it is mostly the females who wear the ostentatious signs of their religion, making them easily identifiable in a non-Muslim environment and easy targets in a hostile situation. "Make no mistake, this ban is also aimed at protecting girls' rights at school. As clerics try to impose their influence more strongly, they demand that sport classes be segregated or simply that girls be excluded from them. What will come next? That boys and girls sit in different classrooms or learn different subjects? ", says France's General Consul in Sydney, Marc Finaud.

The ban is not uniquely aimed at Muslims. It also covers Jewish scull caps, large Christian crosses and Sikh turbans. Naturally, it has provoked the ire of religious leaders (including the Pope) and free-thinkers alike across the world, who see the measure as discriminatory. Many people, including teachers, consider the ban as a pacifist policy. "It's not about forbidding headscarves, only about establishing neutral and peaceful spaces where the conspicuous assertion of religious belonging can have no place", sums up Alain Juppé.

In an effort to pacify libertarians and obtain the largest possible majority in the Senate, two amendments were agreed last month to soften the blow. One ensures that punishment of the pupil under the new law be preceded by a dialogue and the other proposes that the law be reviewed after one year.

The way the French government deals with this side-effect of immigration and fundamentalism is being closely monitored by other European countries, who are grappling with the problem themselves, particularly Germany and the UK. Germany, with the second largest percentage of Muslim population (3.65%) in Europe, may follow suit at least for teachers and public servants in several of its Länder.

France's rigidly secular institutions make it easier to pave the way for the rest of the continent precisely because secularism is already enshrined in the Constitution and is one of the founding tenets of the Republic.

This militant republicanism stems from a long-standing historical conflict between the State and the Church. Let's not forget that it was the collusive powers and excesses of the monarchy and the clergy which prompted the Revolution in 1789, making the separation of the State and the Church the central pillar of the French Republic principles. This policy was brutally enforced between 1792 and 1794 by the Jacobin leader Robespierre whose militant republican and atheist ideas resulted in years of bloody repression in Catholic and royalist provinces which nearly ended in civil war. Napoleon Bonaparte's self appointment to the throne as Emperor and the brief return to the monarchy during the Restoration which followed the Empire period marked a more peaceful relationship between the secular powers and the clergy. After the fall of the Third Empire, Jules Ferry, a fervent atheist who was several times Education Minister between 1879 and 1883 - and coincidently the ancestor of the current education minister Luc Ferry - excluded religious staff from public schools and hospitals and enshrined 'l'école laïque, gratuite et républicaine' (the secular, free and republican school), thus becoming known as the 'father of the French state school system'.

Even though some, like French-Australian author Sophie Masson, claim that these basic principles have become a paradox because they are considered 'sacrosanct' and "pursued with religious zeal", pushing laws to institutionalise free and compulsory education for all children, regardless of their social status, was no small victory in the history of France and remains an achievement which should not be underestimated or taken for granted.