Exit subsidies, and teachers paid by public funds. The prefect of the North, Georges-François Leclerc decided this Sunday, December 10 to end the contract which links the Averroès Muslim high school to the State.
The decision to terminate the contract was taken on Thursday, and a letter sent to the high school on Friday, the prefecture told AFP on Sunday, December 10, without wanting to detail the content of the letter. School officials said they have not yet received it. This decision follows the favorable opinion rendered by the consultative commission chaired by Georges-François Leclerc on November 27.
Educational content contrary to republican values
According to information revealed by our colleagues at Parisian, the prefect considers in his letter addressed to the management of the establishment that “certain teachings are contrary to the values of the Republic”. A “Muslim ethics course” during which “remarks hostile to republican values” were allegedly made by members of the educational community.
In addition, the prefect reports “serious shortcomings” in the “content and resources” which “do not meet all of the programmatic expectations” of National Education. And to note a very strong presence of Muslim religious works which contrasts with the absence of resources relating to “culture, relations between the sexes and homosexuality”.
Writings by Imam Hassan Iquioussen were notably found during the inspection. As a reminder, this Moroccan born in France, close to the Muslim Brotherhood, was subject to an expulsion order in 2022 for “comments inciting hatred and discrimination”. In 2004, he was notably accused of having made anti-Semitic remarks by the CRIF (Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France).
A failure in administrative and financial management
To justify its decision, the commission also relied on management irregularities. And more specifically “a lack of transparency and disinterest in the management of the establishment”. The regional chamber of accounts records in particular financial movements which could “potentially reflect the commission of one or more criminal offenses”.
Furthermore, the prefect points out in his report disputed funding from foreign powers. First and foremost, Qatar, which would be at the origin of a donation of 950,000 euros in 2014. This is why the Hauts-de-France region has refused since 2019 to pay the subsidy provided for under the contract. The LR president of the regional council Xavier Bertrand welcomed an “important decision” at the end of November, believing that the “educational content does not respect republican values”.
For its part, the establishment, which in 2008 became the first Muslim high school in France to enter into a contract with the State, said it was waiting to receive official notification from the prefect before applying to the administrative court for an interim suspension. An emergency procedure which allows a decision to be suspended provisionally, pending a judgment on the merits.