the educational challenge of lebanese catholic schools

Political stagnation and an economy on its knees are also sinking education. In the public sector, teachers go on strike because they do not receive their salaries. Despite the difficulties, the number of students in institutions linked to the Church is growing. Father Youssef Nasr: the pandemic caused an “educational and pedagogical loss” that “we must recover”.

Beirut () – One year after the campaign to help Lebanese Catholic schools, the educational emergency continues and is linked to the political and institutional crisis that the country is experiencing, without a president of the Republic and with an interim executive . It is a government with reduced powers, incapable of coping with the multiple factors of crisis, and too much external interference. This is how the Secretary General of Catholic Institutes, Father Youssef Nasr, who also holds the position of coordinator of all private schools and knows the educational reality well, explains it. “In recent months – he explains – the number of private students has increased, because there is no trust in public schools. Despite the crisis and the scarcity of resources”, he adds, parents are trying to invest in their children’s education “and at this moment there are more than 200,000 students” in 330 Catholic institutions of different levels and grades.

The Lebanese economic, political and institutional crisis is increasingly endangering the educational system and the centuries-old network of Catholic schools, which not only provide an excellent level of education but are also a privileged meeting place for young Christians and Muslims. From operating costs to teacher salaries, inflation-related price increases and the lira’s loss of purchasing power are draining institutions’ coffers. With the Covid-19 pandemic, closures and distance education, the phenomenon of school dropouts was also recorded for the first time.

The Lebanese crisis, Father Nasr told , has “two faces: political and economic” and is due to the fact that the different factions, both Christian and Muslim, are “in positions far removed from each other”. “The system as a whole – he warns – does not work because no decisions are made, even the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund are stalled, and it is urgent to take measures to start the recovery”. Right now “it is impossible” to know how long it will take to elect a head of state, who is “the key” to the problems, “but that key is not in the hands of the Lebanese.” We have to do something ourselves, even if the decisions are made outside the country.”

Meanwhile, the school year started three months ago and for now classes are held regularly. At least in Catholic (and private) schools, because public school teachers have called a strike to protest that they do not receive their salaries, at least in regards to the dollar part. “We normally teach classes – says the general secretary – but we don’t know how long we will be able to do it. We have two challenges: dollar operating costs and teacher salaries, while heating costs are rising. There is a real possibility -he continues- that we will be forced to close or that teachers will also strike in the private sector, because teachers’ salaries are not enough to lead a dignified life.” And families have the same critical problems when they have to pay school fees: “Part of it – he explains – is in Lebanese pounds and the other in dollars, and not everyone can pay the dollar amount.”

Schools have long received funding in local currency, but not in dollars, which are locked up in banks. Fear, explains Fr. Youssef Nasr, is that “the system will collapse”, that is why “we seek help from NGOs and international associations” to collect the sums we need for teachers’ salaries and to buy fuel. “It is a vicious circle – he adds – that unites the educational emergency with the economic and political crisis, with serious consequences for young people”.

Adding to the financial problem are the damages caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. “We have lived through two difficult years – says the priest – having to resort to distance education” and other mixed forms of teaching. We have verified, he continues, “an educational and pedagogical loss, a poverty” that pushes us to “redouble our efforts to give students the chance to recover.” That is why it has been decided to implement a recovery program simultaneously with traditional teaching, although this requires “greater efforts” at a time when we have limited resources. Finally, a reflection on the upcoming holidays, which “we are trying to live normally”, leaving aside luxuries and waste to make a lively celebration, “with humility. That is the message of Christmas -he concludes- in a time of crisis, we are like Christ who was born in a cave”, but full of “love and hope”.