The veil and the burka will be banned for those working at or visiting Dutch schools, including parents, under a tightening of the law.

Private Muslim schools will have to comply but universities will be exempt, ministers said, because the law was intended to ensure that children would be able to recognise and identify others.

The proposal is a compromise after years of argument in the Netherlands in which the Government has stepped back from calls for a general ban on covered faces. “If you want to be present there [at school] as service provider, as parent, as teacher or as pupil, then you will have to let your face show,” Ronald Plasterk, the Education Minister, said.

The Cabinet said earlier this year that it would not be bringing in a general ban on the burka but it did announce plans to stop civil servants wearing them. At the time it said that it expected local authorities to follow suit and extend the ban to council buildings and public transport.

There are also plans for it to include all healthcare staff.

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