“Lebanon Debate”
The visit of the Minister of Education and Higher Education, Rima Karami, to the town of Burj Qalawiya in the Bint Jbeil district was a prominent stop on her southern tour. Speaking to “RED TV,” Representative Ashraf Baydoun confirmed that the people of the region had been waiting for this visit for a while, given its importance in providing the educational decision-maker with the opportunity to see on the ground the educational and psychological realities in the most affected areas.
Baydoun said: “The town of Burj Qalawiya, on the outskirts of the occupied region, and Burj Qalawiya Public Intermediate School is considered one of the most important schools in the Bint Jbeil district, and it used to host about 750 students, both male and female, from various towns in the region.”
He pointed out that the school was a distinguished model in formal education, both in terms of its educational performance and its numerous partnerships with civil society institutions, adding, “It was a model public school that presented the image of the beautiful Lebanon that every Lebanese dreams of, but the Israeli attack completely destroyed it without any justification or military necessity.”
Baydoun explained that the people of the South, its people, and its students faced this devastation with the will to survive, persevere, and return to school, pointing out that efforts began, in cooperation with the Council of the South, to restore the kindergarten building and complete its preparation, in parallel with removing the ruins of the destroyed school.
He revealed a plan that will begin implementation immediately, which requires preparing 17 houses ready to be used as classrooms, in a step aimed at restoring educational life to the school and restoring its basic role in the Bint Jbeil district.
He stressed that Karami’s visit allowed her to see closely the efforts made and the existing cooperation model between the Ministry of Education, the Council of the South, the municipality, the school administration, local activities, and the owners of supporting initiatives.
He added, “This work is a participatory and integrative model to which everyone contributed, from the school principal and the teams of the Southern Council to the Ministry of Education, the municipality, and the white hands. We hope that the Burj Qalawiyah model will be circulated to the various southern regions and all of Lebanon.”
Baydoun concluded by calling for unified efforts in facing the challenges, saying, “We, the Lebanese, must hold hands with each other, because our common enemy is one, and we must sit together to face its challenges, as it does not distinguish between one Lebanese and another.”
