This is what a Lebanese student in Akkar claimed when referring to the Syrian refugees in his school. The same Lebanese boy says that a few years back he had a completely different image in mind; a negative one that he formulated based on what he had heard at home and within the family.
This change in perception was reported in a qualitative study conducted in the summer of 2015 by the authors on behalf of International Alert, an international peacebuilding organization based in Lebanon. The study collected data in two areas, one rural (Akkar) and the other urban (Burj Hammoud) with a total number of 99 participants including Lebanese and Syrian refugee students aged 10–15 years, their parents and teachers in both areas, as well as with school principals and aid workers in the same areas. The aim was to understand how perceptions and relationships among Syrian and Lebanese students were affected by the schooling system, whether mixed Syrian-Lebanese or segregated by nationality.
The study found improved level of cohesion in public school morning classes. Syrian and Lebanese students in morning shifts had better relationships and positive perceptions of each other and where capable of combating stereotypes. Unfortunately, students who did not attend mixed classes had negative perceptions of the other and were more easily affected by negative representations of the other.
In the morning shift, the Lebanese students interviewed said they have heard statements such as «the Syrians kidnap and rape the Lebanese,» but as time passed and they interacted more and more with the Syrian students at school, their opinions changed. The study noted that the Lebanese students did not refer anymore to Syrians by their nationality; «the Syrian» as being their only identity. The daily contact between Syrian and Lebanese classmates allowed them to form their own perceptions and contest negative stereotypes, as a result of regular interaction.
Talking to some Syrian refugee students in Akkar and in Burj Hammoud about their impression of the Lebanese, similar positive impact of mixed schooling was conveyed. The interviewed Syrian students described their Lebanese classmates as «very supportive and helpful». Some even noted that close Lebanese friends or neighbours would stand up for them and their families against any hostile or unpleasant encounters. That said, and while both Lebanese and Syrian students reported friendships within the school, in most cases this appeared not to go beyond the walls of the educational institution and only a few reported seeing friends from a different nationality outside or during the holidays.
The perceptions and relationships are generally less positive in segregated classes. Syrian students attending afternoon classes. Syrian students enrolled in the second school shift in public schools of the same regions expressed resentment towards the Lebanese and a few had a grudge against them. They reported they have heard, from certain Lebanese, insults, unheard of previously in their lives. Some also expressed fear of the Lebanese generally, because, according to the students in case of incidents occurring, the Lebanese can defend themselves by resorting to the police that would raid Syrian homes and frighten their families. When they first arrived in Lebanon, these Syrian students thought the Lebanese were «good-hearted», which in their opinion turned out to be untrue. They considered that the Lebanese students look at them with disdain. They said: «the Lebanese consider us their servants». Some of the Syrians stated that they didn’t know why the Lebanese do not like them. Others explained this behaviour saying that the Lebanese feel: «we took their country». They rationalised the Lebanese’s attitude by the fact that the Lebanese think the Syrians are seizing their rights and receiving aid that the Lebanese should be getting. They have come to such an explanation as, according to them, Lebanese youths directly tell them: «you damaged our country.»
In fact, the interviewed Lebanese students attending public school classes with no Syrian classmates confirmed this situation by describing Syrian refugees as «dirty» and «criminals» and considered them as the main cause of harm done to the areas they take refuge in.
Out of almost 160,000 Syrian refugee students between the ages of 3-17 years attending formal education (January 2016), around 60% are attending the afternoon shift at public schools. The Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education started the second shift in classes in December 2014 catering exclusively to non-Lebanese, namely Syrians and Iraqi refugees, primarily because of the rising demand. In addition, it justified this by the difference in academic levels between the newly enrolled refugees and the Lebanese. This arrangement was considered helpful to teachers in adapting to the special needs of Syrian refugee students academically. Other reasons provided by some school principals and administrators surveyed in a study done in 2014 included considering segregation to protect Syrian refugee students from harassment and discrimination or being exposed to different socio-economic backgrounds of the Lebanese.
While this is a rather limited study, the results are significant and invite further exploration concerning not only the relationship between Syrian and Lebanese children and their community, but also the kind of education and the learning environment we seek to nurture in the Lebanese education system.
Studies from around the world suggest a link - though not a clear causal relationship - between segregation in the schooling system and inter group tensions and conflicts. This has been the case in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Guatemala, Mozambique, Northern Ireland, Rwanda and Sri Lanka where institutional structures, just like in Lebanon, are a mirror image of the political and social divides that characterise society at large and that contribute to deepening the divisions that exist.
For the past 25 years, Lebanon struggled in its efforts to improve its educational system, particularly in ways it can contribute to social cohesion and reconciliation in a country burdened by years of civil war and its aftermath. Support provided to Syrian students in formal education provides Lebanon today a golden opportunity to make use of incoming financial resources to improve the public education system for all students, Syrian and Lebanese. Most importantly, embracing diversity within the classroom and cultivating a multicultural environment in the school opens up opportunities for Lebanese students to learn about empathy and combatting stereotypes, both necessary skills on the rough path towards national reconciliation.
1 - Muzna Al-Masri and Zeina Abla, The Impact of the Schooling System of Lebanese and Syrian Displaced Pupils on Social Stability (Beirut, Lebanon: International Alert, December 2015) <http://international-alert.org/resources/publications/better-together>.
2 - In this report, «students» refers to female and male Syrian and Lebanese students alike and the opinions expressed here reflect those of both sexes.
3- UNHCR Lebanon, «Back to School» http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/download.php?id=11133 (accessed 24/11/2016)
4- http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/ar/originals/2015/10/lebanon-education-ministry-syrian-refugees-children-school.html (accessed 24/11/2016)
5- Shuayb, Maha, Makkouk, Nisrine and Tuttunji, Suha «Widening Access to Quality Education for Syrian Refugees: The Role of Private and NGO Sectors in Lebanon» Centre for Lebanese Studies, September 2014
6- Smith, Alan «Contemporary challenges for education in conflict affected countries» Journal of International and Comparative Education, 2014, Volume 3, Issue 1
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Zeina Abla * Development Resarcher
Muzna Al-Masri ** Researcher and Consultant
