Illustration of a private Muslim school, here in Echirolles. A private Muslim school in Echirolles, described as “of” Salafist inspiration “by Jean-Michel Blanquer, will file a complaint against the Minister of National Education – Eric Cabanis / AFP
- The town hall of Alvertville has two weeks to issue the building permit for a private Muslim elementary school.
- The mayor was opposed to it, however, believing that it was a “separatist” project.
- The prefect of Savoy rushed to his aid, urging the town to appeal the decision of the administrative court of Grenoble.
The prefect of Savoy Pascal Bolot protests against the “disproportionate” and “separatist” project of building a private Muslim school in Albertville, wishing an appeal against the judgment which authorized it. This is what he indicates in an interview published this Sunday in The Dauphiné Libéré.
“In 2019, the mayor refused to issue the permit. He had done well, ”said the prefect after the judgment of the Grenoble administrative court. The latter canceled Tuesday the refusal of the mayor of Albertville Frédéric Burnier Framboret to the building permit for a private primary school of the Islamic Confederation Millî Görüs (CIMG), close to Turkey.
“It’s an Islamic private school”
“This project is unambiguously part of a separatist logic: it is a private Islamic school that claims to distance itself from the French education system. As everywhere else, the CIMG does not intend to open this school in the form of an establishment under contract. Its officials intend to enroll it in a European union of Muslim schools created on their own initiative, which is a way of escaping national contingencies, ”explains the prefect.
“We cannot, in France, tolerate establishments where we hold a school of counter-republic. It is the duty of the mayor and the State not to accept this type of initiative which participates in a process of archipelago of French society, ”he said, recalling that the CIMG refused to sign the charter of the principles of Islam in France.
Risk of disruption of the school map
“This charter affirms principles to which the greatest number adhere: freedom of conscience, the condemnation of political Islam and its instrumentalization, the rejection of all forms of discrimination and equality between men and women. How can we entrust such an organization with the future of our young children? The resulting response is very clear: it is negative, ”says Pascal Bolot.
The prefect also considers that the project is “not acceptable, on the form, because it is disproportionate”. “Albertville is 19,000 inhabitants, 1,500 schoolchildren. There, we have a denominational school which plans to attract 400 students (…) There is a risk of disrupting the school map (…) There is a risk of accelerating the closure of classes and of postponing investments for schools in the République in Albertville ”.
For all these reasons, the prefect “wants the town to appeal the decision of the administrative court”, saying that “there are reasons, in law, should make it possible to obstruct the execution of this judgment of first instance”.