Muslim High School in Lille Loses State Funding Amid Contract Termination

Tough times for the private Muslim high school Averroès in Lille (800 students, including 400 under contract). The long-feared termination of the association contract linking the establishment created in 2003 to the State is recorded on December 7. As a result, no more subsidies to be granted to one of the two only Muslim high schools under contract in France, with the Al-Kindi high school near Lyon (174 students). This decision comes after an academic advisory commission chaired by the prefect of the North voted at the end of November in favor of this termination. This commission looked at both the financing and "the educational aspect of the establishment," and in particular "the content of the Muslim ethics course." "If there were a decision of termination [...] of course we would appeal to the administrative courts," warned Joseph Breham, the lawyer for the Muslim high school Averroès in Lille.

The establishment is accused of management irregularities and teachings deemed contrary to the values of the Republic, in particular during Muslim ethics courses, the lack of resources on certain themes such as homosexuality, the predominance of religious works on Islam to the detriment of other religions and the historical link of Averroès with the UOIF, an organization stemming from the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood movement, reports Le Parisien. Since 2019, the Hauts-de-France region has decided to deprive the school of the subsidy provided for in the contract. It blames Averroès for a Qatari donation of 950,000 euros in 2014. Each time the case is brought before the courts, the administrative court of Lille rules in favor of the establishment.

The prefect of the North does not seem to take into account the observations of the General Inspectorate of National Education. The latter had notably estimated in a 2020 report that "nothing" suggests that "teaching practices [...] do not respect the values of the Republic". According to the inspection, there is also no reason to call into question the association contract.