DAR AL HARB - FRANCE: 2ND MOSLEM HIGH SCHOOL OPENS IN FRANCE

Second Muslim high school opens in France
Al-Kindi private school will eventually cater to 140 students, making it largest Muslim school in France.

DECINES, France - France's second Muslim high school welcomed its first students on Monday in a suburb of the eastern city of Lyon, after a months-long battle with the local education authorities.

Named after a ninth-century Arab scholar, the Al-Kindi private school initially opened to one entry-year class and will eventually cater to 140 students, making it the largest Muslim school in France.

Built on a former industrial site opposite a housing project in Decines, the school got the green light to open last month after the French Higher Education Council (CSE) overruled a decision by the Lyon education board.

The board prevented the school from opening in September, citing concerns about safety as well as the teaching and management credentials of the team behind the project - concerns both dismissed by the CSE.

"We are very pleased, this is going to soothe tensions. The judiciary has enabled us to reach a compromise. We will continue like this, in full respect for the laws of the Republic," Rachid Guergour, head of the Lyon Mosque, told reporters outside the school.

France's first Muslim high-school opened in 2003 in the northern city of Lille and currently has 80 students.


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