Lebanese schools threatened with closure hold out hope for French support – The National

Lebanese schools threatened with closure hold out hope for French support – The National

The French Foreign Minister is expected to detail how his nation will support Lebanese schools during his visit to Lebanon tomorrow





























A picture taken on June 30, 2020, shows an empty classroom at Our Lady of Lourdes school in the Lebanese city of Zahle, in the central Bekaa region. AFP











One of the handful of historic buildings in downtown Beirut to have survived the 1975-1990 civil war, the school of Saint Anne of Besançon, may not open again in September. A quarter of its usual 800 students have not enrolled yet.



"We keep changing scenarios to adapt to the situation. We are living day by day“ said its director, Sister Myrna Farah.



Compounded by confinement measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus, Lebanon's worst-ever economic crisis threatens the survival of the country's private schools, where 70 per cent of Lebanese children study.



With the government increasingly struggling to provide basic services such as electricity, Lebanese schools, and particularly French-speaking ones, are placing their hopes in former colonialist power France.



French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who arrived in Beirut on