the state terminates the contracts of the Al-Kindi Muslim school group
The prefect of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes announced on Friday January 10 that she had decided to terminate the association contracts which bind the State to the Muslim school group Al-Kindi, near Lyon, due to “pedagogical failings”, “administrative” and“attacks on the values of the Republic”.
This decision, which means the end of subsidies for this establishment of more than 600 students located in Décines-Charpieu, will apply from September 1, 2025, according to a press release from the prefecture, confirming information sent to AFP by the Region.
Given the serious failings and dysfunctions contrary to the rules and values of the Republic, the Prefect of the Rhône, Fabienne Buccio, took the decision to terminate the three contracts linking the State to Al Kindi educational establishments ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/LG9w60TCFp
— Prefect of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Rhône region (@prefetrhone) January 10, 2025
A list of “failures” noted
The prefecture cites a list of “failures and dysfunctions” noted during inspections in the establishment: “opacity and confusion of administrative and financial management”presence of“works whose content is seriously contrary to the values of the Republic”, “presence of religious content in compulsory lessons”internal regulations “discriminating against girls”etc.
“Far from being a series of isolated facts”they “demonstrate a closeness of the Al-Kindi establishments with the thinking of the Muslim brothers whose project is contrary to the values of the Republic. Faced with the seriousness of the facts, corrective measures would be insufficient”writes the prefecture in its press release.
“This is an extremely disappointing decision and brings great violence for Muslims in our country”reacted Me Hakim Chergui and Sefen Guez Guez, lawyers for Al-Kindi. “It’s politics cloaked in false educational arguments”they added, announcing their intention to take the matter to the administrative court.
Immediate cessation of “all subsidies”
During a press conference in December, management estimated that if its contracts were terminated, it would lose the salaries of 36 teachers (i.e. 1.6 million euros per year) and would undoubtedly be forced to close .
Without waiting for the outcome of the legal battle, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region announced “the immediate cessation of all subsidies” in high school.
“There was propaganda work among the students, an Islamist drift close to the Muslim brothers and everyone turned a blind eye”declared MP LR Laurent Wauquiez, special advisor to the president of the Region, who had publicly called for the end of the contracts.
The Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau, for his part, thanked the prefect and her services for “their meticulous work” in this folder.
The opening of the Al-Kindi school group in 2007 had already sparked a standoff with the rector of Rhône which ended in the latter’s resignation. Today, nearly 620 students are educated there from CP to final year and 80% of its classes are under contract.
With the exception of a second class in a school in Marseille, it is the last Muslim high school under contract since the termination of the approval of the Averroès high school in Lille, long presented as the flagship of Muslim education in France.
He lost his subsidies on September 1 after being criticized for refusing an unannounced check of his permanent contract and for referring, in a Muslim ethics course, to a collection of religious texts citing the death penalty in cases of apostasy and segregation of the sexes.
