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There is a growing opposition to the French concept of state secularism or la茂cit茅, the president of the Council of Elders for Secularism has said.

Dominique Schnapper, who advises the French government on secularism in education, told Hardtalk鈥檚 Stephen Sackur that some Muslim parents in France did not want their three, four or five-year-old daughters mixing with boys at school.

Some fathers stand outside the school courtyard where children are playing to check their daughter is not playing with boys, she explained.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 an issue, that鈥檚 an issue for a democratic society whether there is la茂cit茅 or not, and we do not have to accept that,鈥� she said.

La茂cit茅 decrees that the public space - whether classrooms, workplaces or ministries - should be free of religion.

The debate over secularism and free speech has grown in France following the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty who showed controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to his pupils.