France to ban students from wearing abayas in state schools

France will ban students from wearing abayas in state-run schools, its education minister said ahead of the back-to-school season.

"I have decided that the abaya could no longer be worn in schools," Education Minister Gabriel Attal said in an interview with TV channel TF1.

"When you walk into a classroom, you shouldn't be able to identify the pupils' religion just by looking at them," he said.

France has enforced a strict ban on religious signs in state schools since the 19th Century.

In 2004, it banned headscarves in schools and passed a ban on full-face veils in public in 2010, angering some in its five million-strong Muslim community.