The Al-Azhar School Foundation in Örebro will repay government grants

The in-depth control carried out by the National Agency for Education has included the Al-Azhar Foundation Vällingby and the subsidiary Edinit AB belonging to this and the Al-Azhar Foundation Örebro. In total, the two foundations and the limited company during the period 2015 to 2018, as a whole, received SEK 14 million for their school operations.

In the in-depth control, documentation has been found regarding paid state grants of SEK 1,572,425 to the Al-Azhar Foundation Örebro, which runs a free school in Mellringe. The foundation has received grants for increased salaries for teachers and certain other staff categories.

In the in-depth control carried out after information on financial malpractice, including from the School Inspectorate, the authority has found deficiencies in the internal documentation.

- We have chosen to focus on the contributions where the money is to go to individual teachers, ie the Teacher Salary Lift, Career Services and the Teacher Lift. We have gone back to 2015 in our checks. The three school principals have not been able to show that they have used the grants in accordance with current regulations and therefore we demand money back, says Andreas Spång, head of state grants at the National Agency for Education.

In total, the two foundations and the limited company will now repay SEK 1.1 million of the government grants paid. The Al Azhar Foundation Örebro is required to repay SEK 111,825 of the money paid within the framework of the teacher pay raise.

In the in-depth control of paid government grants for career services and state grants for the teacher's lift to the Al-Azhar Foundation Örebro, the authority has stated that they have fulfilled the requirements of the regulation.