An Islamic girls school labelled the “Muslim Eton” has closed – because no new students signed up.
The school in Burnley opened only in 2010, vowing to provide four-year programmes to girls aged 16 plus so they could become Islamic scholars.
It sparked fury from Christian leaders who warned of right-wing extremism being inflamed and community integration being skewed.
Now bosses at the Mohuiddin International Girls College have shelved plans to reopen after the summer break, and are “no longer trading”, according to notices reportedly posted at the site.
No students signed up for the £4,500 courses for UK and EU students this year, prompting the closure.
Staff at watchdog the Bridge Schools Inspectorate, which assesses Muslim schools, said they had been unable to get in touch with school bosses.
A spokesman said: “We have been trying to contact them for the past week and sent out a number of e-mails, without any response.
“We have tried every way to make contact and a local person has been out to see whether they’re open and it’s completely closed, it seems they are not operating from the site.”
They said the inspectorate was in the process of being wound up with files transferred to Ofsted.
When the college opened the Rt Rev John Goddard, then Bishop of Burnley, said the single-faith school plans made him “weep”, saying that the 2001 riots in Burnley were thought to have been sparked by racial tension.
The college’s aim was to “educate and empower women regardless of their age, colour, creed or social stature”.
Pupils were offered a four-year Alimah course covering the understanding of Islamic legal rules, sayings of the Prophet, textual readings, interpreting the Koran and Arabic literature.
Staff also taught A-levels and GCSEs in subjects including English, Mathematics and Science as well as Urdu and Arabic and Islamic Theology.
Bosses hoped student numbers would reach 1,500 but it is thought there were only 90 pupils at the college.
Last year the school was put up for sale for £2.5million but remained open.
Last November, the college’s former vice-principal Ghazala Khan, 37, went to a tribunal claiming she was sacked for opposing rules telling all pupils to wear veils during lessons but lost her claim for racial discrimination.