the administrative court of Lille confirms the cessation of subsidies
The administrative court of Lille confirmed in summary proceedings, Monday February 12, the decision of the prefect of the North to end, from the start of the 2024 school year, subsidies for the Averroès high school, the main Muslim secondary school in France.
The case returned to the merits
The court, returning the case to the merits, rejected the request of the high school, which had requested the emergency suspension of this decision, denouncing a ” abuse of power “ of the prefect of the North. The prefect had accused the high school of teaching “contrary to the values of the Republic”.
“There is no reason to maintain the association contract linking the Averroès high school to the State until the decision to terminate this contract, taken by the prefect of the North, is examined by the trial judges »explained the court in a press release.
The administrative court, taking up some of the arguments of the prefect of the North, justified its decision by considering that the high school had indeed failed to fulfill its obligations on two occasions. Firstly, “by objecting without sufficient reason to an unannounced control of the CDI scheduled for June 27, 2022”and on the other hand by citing, as a source for Muslim ethics courses, a book advocating the death penalty in the event of apostasy.
400 students concerned
The Averroès high school, which currently has 400 students, opened in 2003 with the support of the former Union of Islamic Organizations of France (UOIF, which became Muslims of France and emerged from the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood movement), in the wake of the ban on the veil in school premises.
Becoming the first Muslim high school to enter into a contract in 2008, it has since regularly ranked among the best in the region. Averroès is one of only two Muslim high schools under contract in France, with the Al-Kindi high school near Lyon (174 students).
