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Court overturns French decision to cut funding to biggest Muslim school
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on April 23, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
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Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on April 23, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
A French court overturned the decision to cut funding to Averroes, the largest Muslim high school in France, citing insufficient evidence of non-compliance with republican values.
By Juliette Jabkhiro
Paris (Reuters) - An administrative court on Wednesday overturned France's decision to cut government funding to the country's biggest Muslim high school in 2023, in what rights groups say is part of a wider crackdown on Muslim schools.
Private school Averroes, the first Muslim high school to open in mainland France in 2003 in the northern city of Lille, had 800 pupils in 2023 and had been under contract with the state since 2008. Pupils follow the regular French curriculum, and are also offered religion classes.
At the end of 2023, the government's local representative known as the 'prefecture' said the school had administrative and financial problems and some teaching did not align with French republican values, therefore public funding was to be cut.
In its Wednesday ruling, the Lille administrative court said the prefecture didn't provide sufficient evidence that the school was failing to comply with French republican values. Other failings for which the prefecture did have evidence, such as refusing a surprise inspection, did not give sufficient grounds to justify ending its contract with the school.
"It's a victory for the rule of law," the high school said in a statement on Wednesday. "Averroes is a high school aiming for excellence and will now be able to continue its work with its pupils serenely."
As a result of the ruling, the high school's contract with the state will be automatically reinstated, Paul Jablonski, a lawyer for Averroes, told Reuters. He added he hoped the prefecture would not appeal the ruling.
The Lille prefecture didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Juliette Jabkhiro; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
The main topic is the French court's decision to overturn the funding cut to the largest Muslim high school in France, Averroes.
The funding was cut due to alleged administrative and financial issues and non-compliance with French republican values.
The court ruled that there was insufficient evidence to justify the funding cut, reinstating the school's contract with the state.
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