Al-Kindi Muslim School Closed in France: 600 Students May Lose Education

Lyon, February 7 — The French government has revoked the license of the Al-Kindi private Muslim school near Lyon, putting more than 600 students at risk of losing their education and 30 teachers at risk of losing their jobs.

Lyon Prefect Fabienne Buccio described the government's decision as a violation of the law and an "attack on the values of the Republic." She said the school administration had violated educational and management requirements.

Why was the school closed?

According to the investigation, the government presented several key arguments:

The presence of two books in the school library that were deemed "radical";

Controversial statements by one of the teachers were posted on YouTube;

The French government has described the school as "close to the Muslim Brotherhood movement."

Pressure is growing on Muslim schools

This is not the first Muslim school to close in France. A year ago, the Averroes school in Lille also lost government funding. As a result, fees for students doubled and the school lost half of its students.

There are 127 private Muslim schools in France, of which only 10 are state-funded. At the same time, 7,045 Catholic schools are state-funded and educate 2 million students.

Abdulwahab Bakli, director of Al-Kindi:

"Catholic schools are inspected every 15 years, while Muslim schools are inspected every year."

The school administration has started fundraising.

The Al-Kindi administration launched a fundraising campaign to save the school and managed to raise 255,000 euros.

Experts believe that if the French government increases pressure on Muslim schools, it could lead to a proliferation of underground educational institutions.