That's very different. Its more like a religion telling men to always wear gloves for modesty reasons and the government saying that you can't wear them in school.

The reason "for modesty" and only one gender is kind of important. That makes this a gender equality issue.

The law still feels a bit weird, but Islam has to modernize, just like Christianity is doing. Both have a lot of work left and this government is probably more islamophobic than they care about equality.

Your comparison is bad. Let's say you have a religion that mandates all boys wear silly hats. Except that hats (of any kind) aren't allowed to be worn during school. Especially not in elementary school.

Is the government overstepping by saying that boys cannot wear hats in school just because their religion says so? No.

I'll just come out and say it: Religion isn't important in school. That's a personal thing that should stay at home.

From a government perspective, all religions are entirely made-up and completely arbitrary! You could declare yourself a Jedi and say you're being discriminated against for not being able to carry dangerous weapons in school. Doesn't matter: Your religion (Jedi) is completely unimportant to schooling. You don't get an exception just because it's a deeply held religious belief (or similar).

Governments should absolutely not give any religion special treatment. Why is it the government/school that must accommodate (sexist) religious beliefs and not the other way around? If your religion can't handle girls going without their heads being covered that is a flaw in your religion. Obviously! It is completely inflexible and cannot withstand even the tiniest accomodation of not having girls cover themselves in public.

It's so immodest for girls to put head scarves on in a society that doesn't typically wear them! It's like wearing a neon suit; drawing tons of attention to the person. It says, "look at me as I flaunt my religion!"

To some people headscarves represent sexism and oppression of women but that's not actually the real (government) concern. As much as people want it to be some sort of persecution it's so much simpler: Head coverings for young children are nothing but trouble (for schools)!

Keep all the (little) kids wearing similar clothes and no one can be singled out for that and teachers don't have to worry about being accused of giving some kids special treatment because of their religion.

Because your religion never stops at you. History has shown that every chance it can, religion will try to control peoples lives.

It’s like being anti-capitalist. Wanting a revolution would infringe your freedom to choose to exist in a capitalist society, but everyone else would be better off for it.