In a landmark decision Germany's highest court has ruled a woman teacher should not be prevented from wearing a traditional Muslim headscarf in the classroom. The Federal Constititional Court ruled that school authorities in Stuttgart were wrong to bar Fereshta Ludin from a teaching post on the grounds that her scarf would violate the state's religious neutrality. The panel ruled that her headwear did not threaten order in the school. The verdict opens the way for Muslim women teachers across Germany to cover their heads while at school unless the country's federal states have laws expressly forbidding religious symbols in the classroom. None of the states have yet enacted such legislation. In August, the court ruled that Muslim shop assistants could not be fired for wearing a headscarf despite managers' complaints that they put off customers. **PHOTO CAPTION*** German flag