In SCHOOL, in PUBLIC SCHOOL in France, there is to be no large display of religious symbols of any kind while school is in session. This includes Jewish boys wearing yamulkes, Christians displaying large crosses on their persons, and so forth. It is not a ban on Muslim headcoverings. It's a ban on religious display in a secular institution. Students in private schools are subject to the rules there. Indeed, in Muslim schools, the girls may be required to wear headcoverings. The law says nothing about that. Only about PUBLIC schools.

The NPR report states that the motive behind the law is to create an environment in which all students are the same while they are in school, so there is at least an opportunity to look at each other as individuals first, and not members of a particular faith. They can put on anything they want to wear home as soon as classes are dismissed. They can wear whatever they want to school as long as they remove it while school is in session.

Please don't live up to the stereotype of Republicans that cannot comprehend "separation of church and state". You can think of it as school uniforms, only instead of regulating everything a student wears, the French government is telling them that there are certain symbols they may not wear. In school.