On January 10, the prefect of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region (southeastern France), Fabienne Buccio, decided to terminate the association contracts between the state and the private Muslim school Al Kindi, located in Décines-Charpieu, in the Lyon metropolitan area.

This decision ends public subsidies for this establishment of over 620 students, ranging from primary to high school, starting September 1, 2025. Al Kindi thus becomes the last private Muslim high school to lose its contract with the state, following the termination, at the end of 2023, of the contract with the Averroes high school in Lille. Only one Muslim tenth-grade class remains under contract with the state, in a school in Marseille.

This decision has been strongly criticized by lawyers and the educational community, who denounce it as a violent shock for French Muslims and an act of stigmatization. Sefen Guez Guez, one of the school’s lawyers, described this measure as ‘greatly violent’. He emphasizes that the termination comes after several inspections and accusations, particularly of links with the Muslim Brotherhood, and practices deemed incompatible with Republican values, but without taking into account Al Kindi’s exemplary academic results, notably its baccalaureate success rate.

This break with the state raises concerns about the stigmatization of Muslim institutions by the state.