Note: A recent poll found 55% of French citizens oppose taking in Muslim refugees.

PARIS (AFP) – To serve or not to serve pork in the canteens of France’s secular state schools?

As a new school year begins, the divisive issue has once again come to the fore as mayors from three towns have banned non-pork options in canteens to respect the country’s strict divide between education and religion, triggering accusations of discrimination.

Enter Yves Jego, a lawmaker who wants to introduce a draft bill making vegetarian meals obligatory in schools as a pragmatic way of bypassing secularity rules and accommodating Jews and Muslims who do not eat pork, or Hindus, many of whom shun meat in general.

“Can we force a Catholic child to eat meat on Good Friday because nothing else is available, or a Jewish or Muslim kid to eat pork?,” the lawmaker from the centrist UDI party asks on his online petition, which has garnered more than 123,000 signatures so far.

“I will… submit a draft bill to make vegetarian menus obligatory in all canteens as an alternative to daily menus to allow those who do not want meat or fish, whatever the reason, to eat healthily.”

The debate over what to serve children in school canteens has raged on and off for years in France, which prides itself on its 1905 law separating the state and religion, but also has Europe’s largest Muslim and Jewish populations.