A schoolgirl in the French city of Lyon has reportedly been sent home for wearing a kimono, a traditional Japanese garment amid a controversial ban on display of religious symbols in public schools.
Public schools in France have been turning away students for breaking a new national ban on the abaya, a long, robe-like garment often worn by Muslim women, as a rights group filed an appeal against the prohibition.
Human rights lawyer Nabil Boudi, who plans to file a complaint over the incident, was quoted by Al Jazeera saying that the 15-year-old girl was told by the head teacher to leave the school because of her outfit – jeans, a t-shirt and an open kimono.
“This scenario illustrates the dangerous excesses that could legitimately be expected from the recent orders given by the education minister to his administration,” said Boudi.
“Absolutely nothing, in the mere wearing of a kimono, makes it possible to characterise an ostensible manifestation of belonging to a religion within the meaning of the law of March 15, 2004, without resorting to discriminatory prejudices.”
The student reportedly said that her clothes did not represent any religious affiliation.
The government announced last month it was banning the abaya in schools, saying it broke the rules on secularism in education that have already seen Muslim headscarves banned on the grounds they constitute a display of religious affiliation.
The move gladdened the political Right but the hard-Left argued it represented an affront to civil liberties.
