'Growing number' of French schoolgirls flouting secularism rules

French authorities are worried that some of the country's six million secondary school pupils are trying to bend laicité (secularism) rules. © AFP

The Ministry of Education has recorded 313 violations of France's rules on secularism – which includes a ban on the wearing of ostentatious religious insignia in schools.

Speaking in the National Assembly on Wednesday, Education Minister Pap Ndiaye said laicité – a form of secularism that strictly separates church and state – was “not negociable”.