PARIS -- France's first private Islamic school was opened in the city of Lille on Wednesday, the beginning of the new academic year here.

The French Supreme Council for Academic Affairs following many months of debates over the issue, agreed with the idea in its April meeting.

Lille is located in the north of France and has a large Muslim community.

The newly opened private Islamic high school has only 12 students currently and the tuition of each student is 1,000 euros for the whole academic year. The school meanwhile relies on the contributions of Lille's Muslims.

According to the French laws, the school can sign a contract with the government only after five years of offering appropriate academic services to its students, and then it can also benefit from the government services. The high school's principal Ms. Silvi Talib Dashmin who wears the Islamic Hijab (dressing code for Muslim ladies) said during the opening ceremony of the school, "Today, you recorded the beginning of a great move in the history of Islam in France." She added, "You are the ambassadors of Islam, both at this school and in France."

She appreciated the French authorities for permitting the founders of the Islamic school to open it.

The six million strong Islamic community of France had so far been deprived of having their own schools, unlike all other religious minorities here, and this school is therefore the first of its kind. One of the founders of the school, Ammar Lasfer, told IRNA, "The French society should have no fears regarding the opening of this Islamic school, because we will merely teach the regularly taught courses, while observing the Islamic norms of dressing and behavior here." He added, "Wearing the Islamic Hijab, too, is not obligatory for the high school's female students."

Wearing the Islamic Hijab is currently forbidden in French schools, and a large number of female Muslim students have been fired from their schools for wearing it.

The French government is also devising a law based on which wearing the Islamic Hijab would be forbidden at all French schools. The Spanish language teacher of the high school Karima Mokhtari says, "At this school we intend to refrain from any type of ethnic prejudice." The arithmetic teacher of the high school Younis Vahida said, "We had our entrance exam and only enrolled students who ranked high in sciences and mathematics." One of the school's students, Nassereh, said, "I chose to study here due to its academic quality." She added, "We are free to wear the Islamic Hijab, or to abandon it here, but the major distinction between it and the other French schools is that cigarette and other drugs that are found in abundance at those schools are not found here." Nassereh said, "Besides studying the regular course, we have the chance to get better acquainted with Islam here."