France's state schools grappling with a new law banning headscarves have started expelling students refusing to put education before their religion.
So far this week, at least six schoolgirls have been expelled, and the education ministry says around 70 others are flouting the ban.
Implemented at the start of France's current school year which began last month, the law prohibits the wearing of conspicuous religious insignia, such as headscarves for girls, Jewish skullcaps or Sikh turbans for boys, and large Christian crosses in state schools, colleges and universities.
It aims to assert the country's secular identity and ensure that each pupil is treated equally in the classroom.
But the law's passage was controversial, with many in President Jacques Chirac's conservative ruling party disagreeing it was necessary, and Muslim groups have been claiming it is a form of discrimination against the sizeable minority they represent.
Five of the Muslim schoolgirls were expelled from schools in eastern France Tuesday and Wednesday, according to headmasters and reports, while one was expelled from a school in the north of the country.
"They have just destroyed my life," one of the girls, a 12-year-old Algerian named Khouloud, told Le Monde newspaper. She is now looking at taking on home study.
The towns involved - Lyon, Mulhouse and Caen - all have significant communities of Muslim immigrants from North African countries such as Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.
In addition, three boys of Indian Sikh families in a Paris suburb have been studying alone in their school's canteen after being excluded from classes for refusing to take off their traditional keski, a small wraparound headcovering usually worn under turbans.
Under the new law, their separation from their classmates is supposed to be a temporary measure pending dialogue and an academic and school appraisal.
If a student is eventually expelled, he or she can appeal.
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