Arab News/Ummahnews
The French Muslim community will be getting its own Islamic high school â the Ecole Averroes â next year. Indeed, inscriptions will be taken as of January, and the school will start offering courses come September, at the same time as traditional governmentally-operated French schools. The school is to open for the 2003-2004 school year next Fall and will occupy a full floor of the building in Lille, France, that had served as the headquarters of the Ligue Islamique du Nord, the Muslim League of the North. Ecole Averroes' director Makhlouf Mameche says that an Islamic lycee for France was a dire necessity, a way of telling the French that the countryâs Islamic community was capable of establishing its own educational institutions, like the Catholics, who over the years have given France an important educational infrastructure. âBesides offering the identical curriculum offered by traditional French schools of the same educational level,â adds Mameche, âweâll also provide special instruction in Islamic civilization and religion.â
"Things our children really need, like instruction in explosives, marksmanship, turban winding, and grenade tossing..."
And just like the Catholics and other religious communities who have officially-recognized schools in France, Mameche says that the Ecole Averroes expects to sign a contract with the French government so that the degrees it offers will be recognised. |