From Yahoo News:
French Education Minister Luc Ferry said on Thursday he planned to submit to parliament early next year a draft law banning religious symbols such as Islamic headscarves in state schools.…Ferry said he planned to keep the draft law short and simple, and although he had yet to settle the exact wording he was leaning toward prohibiting what would be described as “ostentatious” symbols of faith.
The minister, who earlier expressed concern over suggestions there might be a ban on all religious symbols in schools, said he was satisfied Chirac had restricted it to overt ones like headscarves, Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses.
Small ones apparently are permitted.
Fadela Amara, head of a French organization campaigning for the rights of Muslim girls, said the move would help counter the pressure of radical Islamists.
The wearing of a headscarf, cross jewelry, etc. does not violate the rights of anyone–it is simply a form of advertising or free speech.
Government schools have no right to go against the wishes of the people who pay for those schools–the tax-payers– unless the government is willing to refund their money. Of course, the very existence of such schools entails the violation of rights as they are paid for by coercion, i.e., taxes. A private school, on the other hand, does have the right to “censor” such speech, and to set such clothing rules, i.e., uniforms, and the like.