FEW things seem to scare the French as much as the sight of Muslim schoolgirls wearing head scarves. As schools reopened this fall, the scarves - and what they suggest about Islam's influence in France - dominated headlines and became the object of a controversial directive from the education minister that effectively banned their use in schools.
Many see the scarves, worn by no more than 1, of the estimated , students of Muslim origin who attend French public schools, as an outward sign of discrimination against women. Others believe that allowing the scarves in the classroom is a direct threat to the secular public school system. The scarves also have come to symbolize the French fear that the ultimate aim of hard-line Muslims is to prevent integration of the country's estimated 5 million Muslims.
Still others, including Interior Minister Charles Pasqua, see a deeper threat in the extreme Islamist movement. On Aug. Pasqua summarily expelled 20 Islamic militants he said were actively supporting the Islamic Salvation Front, the Islamist party that is trying to establish an Islamic state in Algeria based on the Iranian model.
The interior minister took the action after five French citizens, including three consular officers, were assassinated in Algeria by Islamic extremists. In mid-September, Mr. The directive was well-received by the teachers' unions in particular and the French public in general. Public opinion polls show that 86 percent of the French population is opposed to authorizing the use of the scarf in the schools.
But some criticize the directive as discrimination against the Islamic veil while allowing students to carry more discreet religious objects, such as small crucifixes. In an example of the uneasiness the Bayrou directive has caused within France's Muslim community, police were called in on Oct.
