A regional government in Germany has provoked national debate after it announced it was considering a ban on girls under the age of 14 wearing Islamic headscarves.

The initiative comes as neighbouring Austria is set to prohibit headscarves in primary schools and kindergartens. But the proposals in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, go much further, and call for a complete ban.

“More and more primary school teachers are reporting than girls as young as seven are coming to class with headscarves,” Serap Güler, integration minister in the regional government said. “Putting a headscarf on a child is perverse. It’s sexualising the child.”

Ms Güler, who is of Turkish heritage, said her own mother wears a headscarf. “But she made that choice as an adult woman.”

Angela Merkel’s government weighed in on the debate on Tuesday as Annette Widmann-Mauz, the national integration minister, warned a ban could be counter-productive. I completely understand where this is coming from,” Ms Widmann-Mauz said.