The so-called "secularity" law, approved by the cabinet a week ago, states that in schools "the wearing of signs or clothes which conspicuously display a pupil's religious affiliation is prohibited".

It also applies also to Jewish skull-caps, large Christian crosses and the Sikh turban, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin will open the debate in the National Assembly - a sign of just how important the government considers the legislation, according to the BBC News Online.

“Some 140 members of the 577-seat lower house are reported to have signed up to speak - an unusually high number.

“Three days have been scheduled for the debate and a vote is set for next week.”

As supporters of President Jacques Chirac in the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party dominate both chambers of parliament, the measure is expected to be passed without difficulty and be on the statute book by the start of the next school year in September.

However several political and religious figures have expressed serious concerns, arguing that the proposed law is badly-drafted, unworkable and inflammatory.

Press reports said most of Chirac's centrist allies have said they will vote against the bill or abstain. Others have suggested amendments that would ease the penalty for violators or replace the word "conspicuous" with "visible" to add clarity to the prohibited insignia.

The Communist Party supported the replacement - which mainly targets hijab and could absolve crosses or skullcaps of the ban - and called for it to be included in the law in order to avoid any future violations, a demand that has been rejected by a National Assembly committee.

Some 70 percent of the French public say they support the measure, but many among the country's estimated five million Muslims see it as an assault on their freedom of religion and thousands have taken part in demonstrations. On Saturday France's small Sikh community also protested against the law.

Confusion was sown over the law's application after Education Minister Luc Ferry tried to define what constitutes "conspicuous" religious symbols - including in the list bandanas and even beards if they were deemed to be worn with a religious intent.

Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin was widely quoted in the French press as warning the government that the law would damage French relations with predominantly Muslim nations in the Middle East and Asia.

Several politicians have warned that the controversy over the bill is playing into the hands of the far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, who is hoping to make big electoral gains at regional elections in March.

The proposed law has been criticized as clumsy and unclear while there are also fears that it could prove divisive - forcing Muslim girls into separate schools, the BBC NewsOnline reported.

Four members of the Stasi committee whose recommendations led to the law said Tuesday that the spirit of their report had been betrayed because of an excessive focus on the hijab in schools.

Rene Remond, a commission member, said politicians had twisted the broader message of the commission's report.

"They give people the impression that we only have to vote for a law to solve the problem of integration," he told the Paris daily Le Monde.

"The headscarf is a decoy that hides the real issue, which is France's capacity to integrate these new populations and have these new French accept its laws," he said.

The commission agreed a law was needed because "we consider that there is a real threat in France," said Alain Touraine, a famous sociologist and member of the panel.

But, "I think it would be disastrous to tackle these problems in a pure spirit of prohibition," he said in a press phone interview.