Muslim School in France Remains Open Despite Court Order to Close

Last February, the Grenoble criminal court had ordered the closure of a private primary school in Isère, for reasons of shortcomings in education. As this measure was not accompanied by an enforcement measure, the school continues to welcome the children.

According to LCI, the Minister of National Education, Jean Michel Blanquer, who was behind the formal notice sent to the parents, had declared on France Inter: "I have just made the decision, on the legal and concrete bases that I had, to close a school of Salafist inspiration in the Grenoble academy".

Defying the injunction to change their children’s school under penalty of a report to the public prosecutor, the parents of the fifty or so enrolled students continue to accompany their children to the Philippe-Grenier Muslim school in Echirolles in Isère.

Today, the school intends to file a complaint against the minister for defamation. In a statement to the press, the lawyer for the private school, Michael Bendavid, stated that the school is undergoing "a relentless pursuit for political purposes", specifying that the latter was created in 2016 with the aim of making up for the lack of institutions with an adapted educational project.