Islamic school closed down for teaching too much from the Koran
A PRIVATE Islamic school has been closed down after its head teacher was accused of spending too much time teaching pupils lessons from the Koran and of ignoring the national curriculum.
Al-Badr primary school’s headteacher Abdelfattah Rahhaoui
The school’s headteacher, Abdelfattah Rahhaoui, has also been handed a four-month suspended jail sentence banning from from teaching at any school or educational setting again.
Al-Badr primary school, which is located in Toulouse, southwest France, first opened its doors in September 2013. Since then, more than 100 Muslims had enrolled their children – aged two to 12 – at the controversial school.
The Toulouse court ruled the 43-year-old Muslim headteacher was spending far too much time teaching his students Arabic the Koran, the holy book of Islam – seven hours a week out of 26 –, and not enough time on the national curriculum.
School inspectors concluded that Mr Rahhaoui had been ignoring the French national curriculum in favour of the holy Muslim text and that as a result, the children had a “poor basic knowledge of human sciences”.
Mr Rahhaoui has been accused of spending too much time teaching pupils lessons from the Koran
The private Islamic school has been shut down and Mr Rahhaoui has been banned from teaching
Mr Rahhaoui’s lawyer, Hidem Droua, argued the sentence was manifestly excessive and “out of proportion to the seriousness of the offence that was committed” after judges said that the school was to be closed “immediately”.