I don't think the kids are banned, just the scarves. If they want to stay home, it's up to them.

Turkey's a weird country, anyway. Until the end of World War I, the Ottoman Sultans were also the Caliphs and the guardians of Islam. When Ataturk founded the modern Turkish state in the 1920s, he insisted that it be secular. the Army (which he led) and the courts have stepped in several times to keep it that way.

I personally think that trying to suppress religion is counterproductive, but it is nice to have one country in that part of the world that isn't trying to wage jihad.