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| Vol. 2 No. 2 | February 2000 |
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Lebanon, Syria Sign Education Agreement
MEIB Staff
Lebanese Education Minister Muhammad Youssef Beydoun and his Syrian counterpart, Mohammed Halabi, signed an agreement earlier this month at the UNESCO building in Beirut that stipulates close cooperation between the two countries at all levels of the education sector. Beydoun said the accord is aimed at "strengthening bonds between Syria and Lebanon" in academic and technical education.1 The agreement, which Halabi insists is a fulfillment of the 1991 Treaty of Brotherhood, Cooperation, and Coordination between Syria and Lebanon, is a significant step toward achieving Syria's goal of integrating the two countries' educational systems.2
The agreement is an elaboration of specific projects in line with proposals made by the Lebanese-Syrian Joint Coordination Committee last October. The main points of the new agreement involve coordination on curricula, teacher and student exchange programs, joint teacher-training projects, and the establishment of summer camps for children from both countries. "Education is in continuous development. We should always follow developments closely and exchange techniques and information we have with Syria and vice versa," said Beydoun after the signing ceremony on February 14.3 A draft agreement
Although Syrian oversight of educational matters in Lebanon is not directly stipulated by the agreement, critics of the Syrian occupation of Lebanon fear that this symbolic intrusion might set the stage for more sweeping efforts to control Lebanese educational institutions in the future. Around 68% of all Lebanese students are educated in private religious and secular schools that have traditionally resisted state regulation.
In an effort to consolidate control over the country after its October 1990 occupation of Beirut, Syria pressured the newly-installed government to issue Decree 29 in November 1990, obligating Lebanon to adhere to the charter of the Arab Organization for Education, Culture and the Sciences. The stipulations of this charter include the adoption of a "mother textbook" used by all Arab states for the study of Middle East history, geography, language, and history (Article 12). However, the Lebanese Education Ministry's attempt to promote a standardized history textbook that blatantly parroted Syrian propaganda about the country's Arab identity caused an outcry among private school administrators and the idea was soon dropped. The Syrians fared little better in their attempt to promote Article 10 of the charter, which stipulates that "Arabic will be the language of teaching and research at all levels of education." Christian and secular private schools, most of whom teach some or all classes in French or English, protested vehemently and the proposal has not yet been implemented.4 According to a recent study, 90% of university students in Lebanon speak English, while 60-70% speak French.5
Nevertheless, Syrian influence over education in Lebanon has gradually increased since 1990. The Ministry of Education has the power to review and reject locally-published textbooks, effectively giving Syria the power to veto any educational materials that do not reflect its view of Lebanese history and cultural identity.
1 Al-Nahar, 15 February 2000.
2 Treaty of Brotherhood, Cooperation, and Coordination, 22 May 1991.
3 "Syria education accord signed," The Daily Star, 15 February 2000.
4 See Between Damascus and Jerusalem: Lebanon and Middle East Peace (The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 1997), pp. 71-72.
5 This study was conducted by Dr. Mary Ghaleb, Assistant Professor at the American University of Beirut. See "Lebanon Is A Trilingual State: Researcher," Future News, 18 January 2000. Ghaleb calls Lebanon a "trilingual" nation.
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