PARIS: Students at an elite Paris university sparked fierce debate on Wednesday by inviting classmates to wear the Muslim veil for a day in a bid to “demystify” a practice that is highly divisive in France.

Students at Sciences Po urged women to take part in Hijab Day “if you too think all women should have the right to dress as they wish and have their choice respected”.

France is grappling with rising Islamophobia after a wave of terror attacks by militants, and the students’ Facebook page said that those agreeing to put on the veil would “experience the stigmatisation experienced by veiled women in France”.

A dozen students handed out flyers at the university by a table covered in colourful headscarves with a sign reading: “France got 99 problems but Hijab ain’t one”, adapted from a hit by US rapper Jay Z.

“It is to raise awareness, open the debate and give the floor to women who are often debated on in public but rarely heard,” said Laetitia, one of the organisers.

Another student, Imen, said she wore a veil for the first time on Wednesday morning on the metro and felt “stares” in her direction.

The organisers’ Facebook page lashed out at Prime Minister Manuel Valls who earlier this month said the veil was being used as a political symbol for the “enslavement of women”.

France has banned the full-face veil in public places, and Valls said the headscarf was being used by some as a challenge to the country’s prized secular society.

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2016