three appeals filed against the end of subsidies
Three appeals were filed on Tuesday January 9 against the decision of the prefect of Hauts-de-France to stop subsidizing the Averroès high school, the main Muslim establishment in France, from the start of the 2024 school year, twenty years after its creation.
The administrative court of Lille indicated that it had been contacted by the association managing the high school, the economic and social committee representing the establishment’s staff, and the parents’ association.
Each structure also filed an interim suspension requesting the court to suspend the decision of December 7, without waiting for the judgment on the merits.
The prefect had pointed out irregularities
In the appeal of the high school association, the lawyers argue that the numerous criticisms made against the establishment “are, in the vast majority, not materially established”.
The prefect had pointed out management irregularities and teaching described as contrary to the values of the Republic, particularly during Muslim ethics courses.
“The Muslim ethics course itself is perfectly consistent with the values of the Republic, as are all the other lessons in the school group”retorted the complainants, ensuring that national education had carried out several inspections, without finding grounds to call into question the association contract.
A high school opened in 2003
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).
The school group, which has a total of 800 students, is already experiencing financial difficulties due to a standoff with the Hauts-de-France region which has refused for several years to pay it the subsidies provided for under the school contract. association with the State.
