A prolonged economic crisis, exacerbated by the spill-over effects of the war in Gaza, is causing an increasing number of Catholic schools, the mainstay of the education system in Lebanon, to close their doors, say officials of Catholic charities and educators battling to help these institutions to survive.

“In Lebanon, there are 322 Catholic schools providing a first-class education to approximately 200,000 students and jobs for around 20,000 teachers and other employees,” Michel Constantin, the Beirut-based regional director of Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA) told The Catholic Register. “These schools provide education for more than 25 per cent of Lebanon’s students, and if we add the schools of other Christian denominations such as Orthodox and Evangelical, we can easily say that the Church in Lebanon educates around 500,000 out of nearly one million.”

He added that the history of Catholic education in Lebanon goes back to the 16th century, the schools have an excellent reputation for high academic standards and are key to the success of many Lebanese people in the worldwide diaspora.

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“Parents cannot afford the tuition,” said an Aid to the Church in Need press release. “Schools then cannot afford to pay their teachers, many of whom have left the country, seeking better futures for their own families. It costs a family $700-$800 (U.S.) a year to send their young children to a Catholic school. However, when mothers and fathers need to fight just to put food on the table, there is nothing left over for education.”

Lebanon’s financial crisis, according to the World Bank, has been “multi-pronged.” Originating in 2019, it has been exacerbated by the Port of Beirut explosion in August 2020 and the the economic impact brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The World Bank said nominal Gross Domestic Product shrank by more than half between 2019 and 2021, from $52 billion (U.S.) to $23.1 billion in 2021. 

“Such a brutal contraction is usually associated with conflicts or war,” the World Bank said.

The effects have been felt nationwide, and now with the threat of all-out war between the Hezbollah and Israel on Lebanon’s southern border — an offshoot of the Hamas-Israel conflict as Hezbollah rains missiles upon Israel from Lebanon and the Israelis respond — more than 100,000 Lebanese have been forced from their homes. All these factors have had a devastating effect on the nation’s education system.

Lebanon’s Catholic schools have a longstanding tradition of educating all Lebanese, regardless of religion, politics and social backgrounds, and of building bridges in a society where sectarian tensions can undermine stability.

“More than 25-30 per cent of students in Catholic schools are non-Christians, and many Catholic schools in largely Muslim-inhabited areas like south Lebanon, or Akkar in the north or North Bekaa, the percentage of Muslim students in Catholic schools increases to 70 per cent,” Constantin said.  

Wadiaa Khoury is a professor education at Beirut’s prestigious St. Joseph University. She agrees that Catholic schools play an indispensable role in creating friendship and understanding between people of Lebanon’s diverse faith communities. A native of Zahle, Lebanon’s third largest city, she is a Maronite (Eastern rite Catholic) and has strong ties with Canada, since she completed her PhD in education at the University of Montreal.

Deeply concerned by the diminishing number of Catholic schools in Lebanon, she works through the Education Aid Committee of her city to help Catholic schools remain open.

“When Catholic schools close in the border villages, it endangers whole Christian communities,” she said. “Students and their parents leave the village in search of a similar education in another community, leaving their own villages empty of Christians.

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“We need to avoid that, because in Lebanon, Christians are pillars of resistance to extremism,” she added, explaining that Christians are more than a community and serve as a stabilizing and peacebuilding force in Lebanon.

Recalling her own school days at Christ the King School in Zahle, she said: “This is where my peers (of all religions) and I learned about Catholic social doctrine, of human dignity, the sanctity of human life and the need to prioritize society’s most vulnerable.” 

Khoury said Catholic schools have a guiding motto, which translates as “truth, beauty and goodness,” and serves to inspire not only Catholics, but all who study at these schools.

The struggle of Catholic schools to remain open is not a new phenomenon, but has been an issue for several years now.

An OSV article from Sept. 8, 2023 stated that Fr. Youssef Nasr, president of the general secretariat for Catholic schools in Lebanon, had sounded the alarm four years ago. He had pointed out that 80 per cent of Catholic schools were in danger of closing because of the economic crisis and the discontinuation of funding by the state.

But CNEWA and other Catholic charities such as Aid to the Church in Need, Caritas and Oeuvre d’Orient have been on the ground trying to avert this disaster, Constantin said. 

“CNEWA was an active partner in providing cash to pay teachers, helping schools in remote mountainous areas to obtain heating fuel during the harsh winters and in helping schools install solar systems to reduce electricity bills,” he explained.

But he added that the situation has deteriorated since 2020, placing more schools in danger of closing forever.

“The war in the south and its escalation that has been going on since Oct. 8, 2023 have caused the displacement of more than 100,000 Lebanese from their villages,” Constantin said. “As of Feb. 16, UNICEF counted 44 closed public schools in southern Lebanon, affecting 10,000 students. Among them, approximately 5,000 children are engaged in remote learning through their own schools, while around 1,700 children have been integrated into nearby public schools. UNICEF expected the number to reach 3,200 in the weeks since then.”

Even the economic relief provided by tourism has dried up because of the war, adding to the financial distress of parents who depend on summer earnings and direct transfer of funds from visiting relatives to pay their children’s education, Constantin pointed out.

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“Unfortunately, due to the war in Gaza, and the involvement of Hezbollah in this war from south Lebanon, tourism declined in 2024 because of the risk of the airport being targeted,” he said, adding that this had put a damper to summer visits by the large Lebanese diaspora.

Both CNEWA and Aid to the Church in Need continue to support Catholic schools and have issued appeals to their donors to join them in their efforts.