8 March 2022 - The Lebanese Minister of Education and Higher Education, Dr. Abbas Al-Halabi, and the Director of the UNESCO Regional Office in Beirut, Costanza Farina, toured today a number of public schools that were rehabilitated after the Beirut port blasts. They were accompanied by UNESCO’s national programme officer for education in Lebanon Maysoun Chehab, UNESCO’s Senior Regional Advisor for Education Fadi Yarak, the Director General of Education Imad Al-Ashkar, the Director of Secondary Education Khaled Fayed, the President of Beirut Educational District Muhammad Al-Homsi, the Head of the engineering unit Maya Samaha, and media advisor Albert Chamoun.
The tour began at the third Ashrafieh Public School in Jeitawi, where the Minister witnessed the completion of the works following the severe damages that had impacted of the building, which was visited by the Director-General of UNESCO Audrey Azoulay in August 2020, and from where was launched UNESCO’s initiative Li Beirut.
Minister Halabi entered the classes and spoke to the students, teachers and administration staff, and expressed his admiration for "the accuracy of the work and the development that took place in the building, equipment and laboratories, transforming the institution into a school that is better and more modern than the new schools."
The delegation moved to the official Hawd al-Wilaya High School, an Ottoman building that was built in 1881 and was in its infancy the Al-Rashdiya Military School. The minister expressed his satisfaction that "the restoration and rehabilitation operations have preserved the identity of the heritage building, which has returned to its glory as a historical building that carries many memories and meaning in the capital Beirut, which is regaining its charm."
Al-Halabi thanked UNESCO through the Director of the Regional Office and the project team, affirming that "UNESCO, which has taken upon itself the responsibility of restoring 95 public and private schools, 20 technical and vocational schools, and three universities, as well as providing equipment and coordinating aid related to educational institutions, has carried out its tasks to the fullest extent, whether for historical or modern heritage buildings, and thus it has preserved its mission as an international organization that includes under its mandate the classification of historical and cultural places associated with the memory of peoples and nations”.
He also thanked UNESCO for standing by the Ministry in securing the elements needed for the implementation of the five-year plan, and providing technical support to the Educational Center for Research and Development in curriculum development and digitization workshop, calling for “pursuing this momentum of success and help in order to support Lebanon and its institutions, save the academic year and ensure the continuity of education.”
From her side, Costanza Farina pointed out that "this tour, which marks the completion of the restoration work and the rehabilitation of educational, university and technical institutions, is a successful example of the fruitful cooperation between the organization and the Ministry of Education and its affiliated institutions." She said that "the trust of the international donors who provided support gave the working team the impetus and responsibility to meet the deadlines and push for achievement, strongly believing in UNESCO's educational and cultural mission and the need of reviving educational institutions in Lebanon."
She finally thanked Minister Al-Halabi for the cooperation and harmony between the ministry and UNESCO’s regional office, "which gives mutual confidence and aspiration to a better future, especially after the experience of working in difficult conditions with the spread of the pandemic, which constituted a challenge from which we can learn a lot."