A Swiss secondary school has caused uproar by allowing two Muslim boys not to shake hands with women teachers - a common greeting in Swiss schools.
The boys had told the school in the small, northern town of Therwil it was against their faith to touch a woman outside their family.
Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga said shaking hands was part of Swiss culture and daily life.
A local teachers' union said the exemption discriminated against women.
The case has propelled Therwil, a town of 10,000 people in the Basel-Country canton, to the centre of a national debate about Swiss identity. A similar case has been reported elsewhere in the region.
Christian Amsler, head of the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education, suggested that the school may have tried to get an "unpleasant problem out of the way" but had simply made a mistake. [BBC] Read more
