Military school accused of discriminating against applicants from Catholic schools
Parents and education associations have raised the issue of discrimination against applicants from independent Catholic schools at the Prytanée National Militaire de La Flèche in France, after a Parcoursup admissions notice listed attendance at a non-contract school as an exclusion criterion. The allegations prompted legal action by affected families and an administrative investigation ordered by the Ministry of the Armed Forces, which instructed the school to remove what it described as the "erroneous" admission criterion.
On 2 July 2026, parents of applicants from independent (hors contrat) Catholic schools filed an emergency legal application before the Administrative Court of Nantes, after their children were refused admission to preparatory classes at the Prytanée National Militaire, a military gymnasium in La Flèche. The challenge followed the discovery that the school's admissions information stated that enrolment in an independent school constituted one of the "eliminatory criteria" for admission as written in the Parcoursup sheet of the gymnasium. According to reports, not a single applicant who had previously attended a Catholic, independent, private school was admitted this year. Parents of the applicants assess the procedure as discrimination, since private schools are legally recognised in France.
Education associations supporting the families argued that excluding applicants because they attended independent schools violated the principle of equal treatment, which jeopardises the republican principle of equality. Several of the affected schools were identified in media reports as Catholic institutions operating outside the state contract system. Furthermore, the affected schools named in the reports have had no graduates admitted to the Prytanée in La Flèche for two years.
France's Minister of the Armed Forces stated that no form of discrimination should exist in institutions under the Ministry's authority. She described the admission criterion published on Parcoursup as the result of a "particularly regrettable individual initiative" that was "totally erroneous", ordered its removal, and announced a rapid administrative investigation to establish the circumstances of this initiative. The ministry also maintained that attendance at an independent school was not an admission criterion used by the official selection committees.
Sources: Freilich-magazin, tribunechretienne, france3-regions, europe1, lefigaro
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