Court cancels closure of Avicenne Muslim college in Nice

The Muslim college in Nice will be able to welcome its students next year, the administrative court of Nice having confirmed, on Tuesday July 2, in its judgment on the merits that the accounting errors did not justify a prefectural closure order.

The establishment “Avicenna emerges stronger from this ordeal”rejoiced the college’s lawyer, Sefen Guez Guez, who intends to return to the administrative court to contest the refusal of the establishment’s requests to switch to a contract with the State.

In a statement, the prefecture said: ” takes[re] act of the court’s decision while considering that the opacity of the establishment’s accounts, recognized and admitted by the court, poses real problems with regard to the law on separatism”.

Located in a disadvantaged area of ​​Nice, this private, non-contractual college opened in 2016 and has around a hundred students. The controversy having boosted applications, it will increase to one hundred and thirty students next year with the opening of a second class of 6^e.

The authorities do not question the quality of the education provided, confirmed by the success of students in the brevet and then in public high schools. But the “separatism” law of 2021 requires non-contract establishments to inform the administration of the origin of their funding and the Avicenne association, an offshoot of the Union of Muslims of the Alpes-Maritimes (UMAM) and manager of the college, has fumbled to respond to requests.

The tables were not in the required form for a long time, and the last ones only mentioned the surnames of the contributors. Families pay 200 euros per month per student, so the association relies heavily on donations to balance its budget.

“If the tables and documents provided by the Avicenne association for the years 2018 to 2022 contain errors and inaccuracies, these irregularities noted are not (…) of a nature to justify the definitive closure of the establishment”concluded the administrative court.

“A feeling of injustice”

The decision to close the Avicenne college was announced on February 26 by the Minister of National Education, Nicole Belloubet, and ordered on March 14 by the prefecture.

Avicenna officials then denounced a “relentlessness”. At the beginning of June, the director of the college, Idir Arab, had also mentioned “a feeling of injustice” : “You have a small project that works in a neighborhood where everything is collapsing, why close it?” Especially since the college has been asking since 2019 to enter into a contract with the French state, which implies even more extensive control by public authorities.

An inspection in the fall of 2020 criticized the absence of a physics-chemistry laboratory and a lack of infrastructure for physical education. Since then, the laboratory has been set up and slots reserved for the swimming pool or other structures, but the rectorate has not given any further news. Contacted by Agence France-Presse, it did not wish to comment.

“We are subjected to separatism when we would like to integrate the system”Mr. Arab regretted, summarizing his speech to the students: “You are French, you are going to show the world that you exist and that we need you.” At Avicenna, students follow the official curriculum, with an additional hour and a half of Arabic and an hour and a half of Muslim ethics. The dress codes are very diverse and the teachers are of all faiths.

In its closure order, the prefecture had also pointed out discrepancies around loans transformed into a donation totaling 476,000 euros in favor of the college; or a loan granted by the college to one of its donors. Referred in December by the prefect, the Nice public prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation for breach of trust. But according to Mr. Guez Guez, no investigator has contacted Avicenna so far.