It’s a sword of Damocles hanging over the head of the Averroès private high school. And for good reason, the State is considering terminating its contract with this Muslim educational establishment. A decision which would lead him to lose his public funding. The contracts of teachers and staff would thus cease to be financed by National Education.
In total, three main accusations have been made against this Koranic high school opened in 2003: the receipt of a Qatari donation in 2014, a disputed religious work in the bibliography of spiritual teaching and management irregularities.
A “very important” decision, greets Xavier Bertrand
If the prefect’s decision is expected in the coming days, the education consultation commission made up of 25 members declared itself in favor of such a termination this Monday, November 27, after a three-hour meeting . By 16 against 9 abstentions.
“A very important decision,” greets Xavier Bertrand, the president of Hauts-de-France, who believes that the “educational content does not respect republican values.” This is why the region has refused since 2019 to pay the subsidy provided for under the contract, accusing Averroès, among other things, of a Qatari donation of 950,000 euros in 2014.
However, in a report published in 2020, the General Inspectorate of National Education estimated that “nothing” allowed one to think “that teaching practices […] do not respect the values of the Republic.
Disputed religious work and scientific skepticism
To make its decision, the academic commission looked at both the financing and “the educational aspect of the establishment”, and in particular “the content of the Muslim ethics course”, taught to some 400 students enrolled in the ‘establishment.
According to the commission’s referral report, of which AFP obtained a copy, a collection of religious texts mentioned in the bibliography of a teaching poses a particular problem. And for good reason, the work would be peppered with comments advocating the death penalty for apostasy or even the segregation of people according to their sex.
Furthermore, during a visit to the establishment, an inspector noted that “the formulations used orally and included in the students’ written records” as well as “the use of the conditional”, “lead to a relativity scientific facts in life and earth sciences”.
Accusations brushed aside by the management of the establishment, founded 20 years ago in the wake of the ban on the veil in school premises. The “high school promotes a contextualized, tolerant Islam […]respectful of the laws of the Republic”, underlined Monday Mohamed Damak, president of the Averroès association.
An “illicit financing system”
But what about the “illicit financing system” pointed out by the prefect, which is based on an “investigation opened by the Lille public prosecutor’s office” according to which associations are suspected of having granted loans to the school group without requesting repayment? According to the prefecture, these “false loans” come from member associations of the “Mosquées du Nord” collective, which it describes as “Brotherhood”, and some of which have benefited from foreign funds.
The lawyer for this school, Me Joseph Breham, evades this. “No one apart from the prefectural authority says that there is a link with the Muslim Brotherhood.” And to emphasize that the high school management association includes “people from all walks of life, all points of view”.
To his rescue comes the former senior civil servant and specialist in Islam, Bernard Godard, for whom the objective of this high school is to create a “Muslim elite”. And he clarified his thoughts to AFP: “They followed the model of French private Catholic establishments, which aim for excellence”, and “separate teaching from religion”.
Contacted by our colleagues from AFP, the prosecution was unable to confirm or deny these facts. The lawyer for the Averroès high school denounces a “total sham”, and undertakes to take legal action in the event of termination of the contract with the State.
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