Wrecked schools pose new challenge as Beirut students wait to head back to classes
BEIRUT - Piles of rubble and broken glass lie in the corridors and courtyard of Beirut’s College Notre Dame de Nazareth. The principal’s office has been damaged and the doors and windows of the chapel blown off. The statue of the Virgin Mary in the yard has remained intact, however, watching over workmen toiling to fix buildings.
These are the scenes as students wait to start a new academic year. The huge explosion in Beirut’s port on Aug. 4 did not spare the Lebanese capital’s schools as it laid waste to swathes of the city. Rebuilding poses yet another challenge to an education system already reeling from an economic crisis and the coronavirus pandemic. “I can’t adapt to it as I adapted to other problems. We don’t have classrooms, offices or halls. There is nothing standing, I have nowhere to bring in students,” said Notre Dame principal Sister Magida Fheili. Many of the school’s buildings were left with no windows, no doors and broken walls. More than 200 education institutions - public and private schools and technical colleges - were damaged by the explosion, said Maya Semaha, the Education Ministry’s head of engineering. Of those, 25 were severely damaged and some might need more time to fix than what is left until the academic year kicks off, she said. While some private schools have started with online classes, Lebanon’s official backtoschool date - originally set for Sept. 28 - has been postponed until Oct. 12 after a surge in coronavirus cases in the Mediterranean country. Curriculums were reduced to almost half so schools could complete them in a hybrid way, Education Ministry media advisor Albert Chamoun told Reuters. Lessons are expected to be a mix of online courses and inperson teaching, he explained. But some establishments, like
Nazareth and the Sagesse Beirut school, do not yet have the option of going back to the classrooms. “We are a big school with a lot of classes, we surely can welcome (students) during coronavirus by separating classes,” said Father Charbel Massaad, president of Sagesse school. “But our problem is not coronavirus now, it is the rebuilding.” (Reuters)