The French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools is an amendment to the French Code of Education banning students from wearing conspicuous religious symbolsin French public primary and secondary schools. The law expands principles founded in existing French law, especially the constitutional requirement of laïcité: the separation of state and religious activities. The bill passed France's national legislature and was signed into law by President Jacques Chirac on March 15, 2004 and came into effect on September 2, 2004, at the beginning of the new school year. The law does not mention any particular symbol, though it is considered by many to specifically target the wearing of headscarves (hijab) by Muslim schoolgirls. The law was controversial: while its proponents contended that it protected young Muslim women from peer pressure to wear the veil, critics claimed that it infringed on religious freedom.
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