Founded 20 years ago after the headscarf was banned in schools, Averroès, the first Muslim high school with a contract in France, sees its job in jeopardy after an opinion in favor of terminating its contract with the state was given on Monday, AFP reported. .

An advisory committee chaired by the prefect of the Northern region voted on Monday to terminate the contract between the state and this Muslim high school in Lille, the largest city in northern France, two sources close to the matter told AFP.

Under a contract signed in 2008, secondary school teachers are paid by the French Ministry of Education and extracurricular staff by the region. The final word now rests with the prefect, who is expected to make a decision on the future of the contract “in the coming days”, one of the two sources said.

Since 2019, the local government has refused to pay the subsidy provided for in this contract with the state, blaming the secondary school, in particular, for a donation from Qatar of 950,000 euros in 2014.

Averroes’ historical ties to the Muslims of France (formerly UOIF), an organization that grew out of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood movement, are also pointed out.

The idea for a Muslim high school came about in 1994, when 19 young girls were expelled from a public high school in Lille for refusing to remove their veils to attend classes, despite a circular banning “displaying religious symbols.”

Averroès High School was opened in September 2003 with approximately fifteen female students in the premises of a mosque in the working-class district of Lille-Sud with the support of the UOIF.

With over 800 students, of which 400 are on contract, Averroès is the largest of the six Muslim contract schools in France. Only high school is recognized, not college.