Lebanon 2012 Wafaa M. Sweidan

Active Citizenship

Education

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:

Active Citizenship Education” is the sought solution to spread the knowledge about issues that

we are not familiar with such as social justice, roles and responsibilities to society, Lebanese

laws and regulations, so that we find a common ground to launch from it our journey for active

citizenship in a country that treats citizens on the bases of their affiliations and backgrounds,

where voting is compulsory and providing health care is a minor. My aim at the end of the

project will be rendering the citizenship education project, an obligatory community and official

policy to unveil our aptitudes and potentials that are hidden or more precisely ignored.

My sincere appreciation goes to the MEPI-TL and LAU family that embraced me for three years

with continuous academic care and fertile workshops to be active members of society.

TABLE OF CONTENT:

ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………………………1

INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………….2

BACKGROUND……………………………………………………………………………..5

PROBLEM: Sectarianism or citizenship?..................................................7

METHODOLOGY: PART I………………………………………..………………………….8

RESULTS:PART1……………………………………………………………………………….11

METHODOLOGY:PART II………………………………………………………………….13

RESULTS: PART II…………………………………………………………………………….15

FINDINGS………………………………………………………………………………………….16

CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………………….19

REFERNCES…………………………………………………………………………………….20

ABSTRACT:

The talk about defining identity and belonging has always been going on and embarking through

this path which demands a lot of courage and determination to be able to set common factors

among a population of unique individuals and take it from there to establish the infrastructure of

an active citizen. Lebanon has been the gate from which conflicts make an entrance, whether

they arise from pure Lebanese critical situations or external battles to be fought in Lebanon. A

basic and spontaneous response to the facility in provoking internal conflicts reveals that most of

the Lebanese pay loyalty to their “group”, are defended by that “group” and the government is a

statuary figure that is not even building bridges toward its citizens. To further study the current

status of citizenship in Lebanon and the attempts made by the civil society, I took two models

which were implemented on a large scale in Lebanon and analyzed their outcomes. The models

suggested demands the cooperation of near municipalities, civil society, NGOs, and most

importantly the youth and especially those enrolled in universities and schools. It will be devised

according to need assessments and followed up to include any modifications. The project

essentially will develop the basic infrastructure needed to expose the pupils to the citizen’s roles

and responsibilities. This will be conducted through sessions by facilitators, officials and

recognized personalities, mock stimulations where the tools and methods are advised by the

facilitator. The latter will be the theoretical indispensible part of the project that allow targeted

pupils to know how important and valuable their contribution is to the society, however, powered

with the basic information and skills that will be acquired through the sessions.

At a later step community service projects, initiatives, and volunteering policies, will be

designed to test for the results of the first part. This is a crucial step and need funding, follow up,

technical support and civic readiness and exposure to the projects through media and need of

local figures that can affect citizens. Implemented projects will be assessed and leaders will be

slowly revealed. The results will reflect the potentials and efforts done by the activists and how

responsive was the community. If the community welcomed by the initiatives and did not

consider them as a waste of time and believed in the important role done by youth, then it will be

a major motive for youth and a victory and a manifestation of the citizenship spirit to work for

our community and provoke more official engagement and sponsorship in this kind of projects

and with youth that built their skills piece by piece refuting the cliché “we cannot change, our

country is already corrupted”.

INTRODUCTION:

Lebanon today presents a muddle of contradictions. On the one hand, it boasts an energetic

multicultural society, an active private sector, and a liberal political system, and on the other, it

has been plagued with civil wars, external wars, military turbulence and acute political

uncertainty1. Accumulated complex and intersecting political, social, and economic and religious

circumstances led to a rise in sectarian divisions and animosity which have been manifested in

periodic street clashes in the last decade. These factors had a prominent effect and determining

factors on how Lebanese citizens define themselves as Lebanese and the vision they have of their

nation and state in a regional and global context. To begin with, both the concepts of 'citizens'

and 'citizenship' are highly contested in theory and practice, raising a lot of challenges for

empirical research1. In a context as highly charged as Lebanon, addressing these challenges also

means exploring how to tackle discourses of citizenship that either exclude or marginalize

segments of the population while at the same time exploring the different ways in which people

position themselves as citizens3. The history of Lebanon has been characterized by religious and

political tensions including a civil war from 1975-1989, repeated Israeli attacks and severe

internal political tensions in November 2007 that have gridlocked the Presidential elections.

Following the Israeli-Lebanese war in July 2006 and 2007 political crisis, young adolescents

have been adults highly engaged in political sphere and active in politically motivated struggles

such as clashes on university campuses and the rearmament of young members in political

parties. However, with the continued tension and conflicts with its sectarian and divided society,

Citizenship Education has been a compulsory subject across all year levels in Lebanon, and

recognized as a tool for social cohesion especially in the unique consociational democracy of

Lebanon with an emphasis on curriculum development, policy and teaching resources4.

Having this in mind, citizenship education will provide the means of social, political and

economic development following conflict or social and political changes which are indispensible

in the Lebanese society but this education for constituting Lebanon’s unified identity is facing

numerous challenges6. Citizenship here is not a universal value free notion, but rather carries

within it the agenda of active participation, and doesn’t comprise an only electoral season which

is the case in Lebanon1. Responsible citizenship is connected to civic values such as democracy,

equity, human rights, tolerance and social responsibility, solidarity and justice2. These values are

also directly linked to the view of civil society as a form of associational life that includes all

networks, such as NGOs, political parties, social or economic associations, syndicates or labor

unions, etc that individuals participate in voluntarily. The idea is that such forms of active

citizenship or constructive participation in public life are what make for a productive social

capital and economically competitive society. It is also the arena where politics are made through

rational dissent, debate and non-violent conflict. On the methodological front, recognizing the

difficulties of addressing the dilemmas of citizenship in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious

context like Lebanon that is also witnessing political and military turbulence, necessitated a

flexible mechanism that could adapt to rapidly changing circumstances and would allow the

innovative integration of citizen concerns and actions, beyond the norms of academic analysis,

opinion polls and surveys3. As a result, it is required an approach that would allow us to

highlight contradictions without necessarily resolving them. One of the most profound changes

that are reorienting citizenship education is the recognition that it is valuable for children as

children1.

Accordingly, engaging the executive and legislative branches of government on one hand and

civil society organizations as well as academics, experts, the media and Lebanese citizens in

general on the other hand, will support the general reform process and strengthen citizenship in

Lebanon. Empowering citizens leads to a reinforcement of democracy, good governance, the rule

of law and justice reform, as well as social equity toward a sustainable human development in

Lebanon2. A call to Lebanon's decision and policy makers, public intellectuals and to members

of civil society to recognize that citizenship is an essential weapon not only in the struggle

against social and economic inequity but also in the attempt to widen the conception of politics

itself.

Researching citizenship education in Lebanon through this paper will aim for the following

prospective:

Help us better understand the gaps between desired outcomes of education for social

cohesion and the actual learning of citizenship education.

Enhance methodologies and strategies for reform, based on sound analysis and divorced

from political grandstanding.

Explore the questions of citizenship and identity- making as they relate to larger

governance and policymaking processes.

Unpack the different mechanisms that define citizenship and democratic practices in

Lebanon and to propose an agenda for moving toward a citizen's state

Highlight challenges students face in learning to be effective members in a post-conflict

sectarian society.

Examine challenges of teaching and learning citizenship education in the National and

Civic Education classroom in Lebanon.

The basic premise of this report is that citizenship is the foundation of democracy, that

democratic practices cannot be limited to the procedural dimension, despite its importance, and

that effective citizenship concerns not only voting without coercion, but also the formation of

relations between citizens and the state and among citizens themselves. The development of such

relationships is an ongoing process and is closely connected to various aspects of societal

formations. My field work in Beirut Southern Suburb, summarized by surveys targeting teachers

and students of official 9th

and 12th

grades, NGO reports about citizenship, and Ghobeiry

Municipality statistics could not be approached due to time limit, lack of funding, political

constraints, and security measures in the suburb. As a result, I could not conduct my own

questionnaire and derive the anticipated results, and I summarized two studies done by the

UNDP and Dr. Akar and documented their results.

BACKGROUND:

Lebanon is an electoral democracy, with a universal right to vote granted to all citizens over the

age of twenty-one and regularly occurring elections1. On the social front, social citizenship rights

such as access to education and health are guaranteed, while, on the cultural front, freedom of

thought, worship, and expression are legally, and in some cases constitutionally, guaranteed3.

Lebanese citizens enjoy a free if increasingly polarized press, freedom of association, and

protection of persons. Notwithstanding weak implementation, Lebanon also has ratified a good

number of international agreements and treaties with regard to international human rights,

equality under the law, protection from discrimination, protection of labor rights and the rights of

children, and guarantees of women's rights. Despite these universal rights, however, considerable

deficiencies remain in representative/active citizenship. The emergence of a full civic culture and

the establishment of equity among citizens in Lebanon are hampered largely by the ways in

which state-citizen relations are framed by the constitution and by personal status laws3. While

the constitution guarantees equity among all Lebanese citizens, the partial implementation of the

Taif constitution, the selective interpretation of certain articles of the constitution, and the lack of

a civic status law have undermined equity among citizens and the possibility of moving toward a

citizen's state. In particular the non-implementation of clauses in the Taif constitution related to

the formation of the “National Committee” entrusted under article 95 with the task to “study and

propose the means to ensure the abolition of confessionalism,” the implementation of

administrative decentralization, the strengthening of the independence of the judiciary, and the

enactment of a new electoral law intended to insure the representation of the “different categories

of the population” and guarantee communal “co-existence” have left the door wide open for an

increasingly dysfunctional system3.

In this context, the relationship of state to citizens is “legally confessionalized” and politics has

tended to lose its effectiveness as the internal sovereignty of the state diminishes with the ceding

of more authority to individual communities. Sectarian communities have been tasked with

mediating the relationship between the state and “its” citizens, not only in practice but through

the law as well. This includes political, social, and cultural aspects of this relationship. Institution

building has suffered tremendous setbacks as political/sectarian conflicts materialize in political

deadlock. State institutions, usually shaped by negotiations among traditional political leaders

over political prerogatives, have been transformed into a primary sphere of contestation among

the main sectarian groups based on the projected “rights” of these groups. This has also led to the

reproduction of traditional power structures and deficiencies in active/representative citizenship

while clientelist networks are camouflaged as expressions of the interests of specific

communities3. The results of this contestation is that political power struggles over state

institutions have been exacerbated to the point where these institutions are considered mere

instruments in the larger negotiations between representatives of the different

religious/communal groups. The electoral law, another sphere of contestation between religious

communities, has changed nine times in the course of Lebanon's thirteen parliamentary elections

since independence. As a result, and even though elections have taken place regularly (with the

exception of the period of civil war from 1975 to 1990), Lebanese citizens have had to rely on a

deficient and unstable electoral system marked by constantly changing administrative divisions2.

The law has served to reproduce traditional power structures and hindered the emergence of new,

independent, political leadership. Access of citizens to social services is also polarized as

politicians and representatives of religious communities, to various extents, struggle to

monopolize this process. Consequently, many social “rights” or “services” such as education or

health are accessed either through local political leaders or through religious organizations

funded by the state.

Citizens' rights are re-packaged as “favors” while recipients remain oblivious to the fact that

these services are in fact provided for by the state it is important to note that as outlined above,

even though sectarianism plays a detrimental role in the access of citizens to the state and affects

the relation between citizens themselves1. What is seriously undermining democratic

governance, the state and its institutions is the overlap between businesses; clientalist and

sectarian interests to the extent that all attempts to reform the system are perceived or discussed

as attempts to “take away” the privileges of one community or the other.

PROBLEM: Sectarianism or citizenship?

Citizenship is a social category that addresses the group or communal nature of social life in a

“universal” manner3. Rooted in liberal political theory, enlightenment thought, and capitalism,

and taking individualism as a central tenet, citizenship has assumed diverse shapes in different

contexts3. The rights and obligations of citizens vary depending on the history, cultural

background, and sociopolitical context of each country. Irrespective of these differences,

citizenship cannot be stripped down to a mere set of services (rights and obligations); to do so is

to depoliticize it.

In Lebanon, even though multiple civic narratives such as economic liberalism, the maintenance

of an equal distance between the state and each of the various religious groups, and the state as

patron of religious institutions resonate and overlay each other, the most important and enduring

of all is the myth of sectarian pluralism which has underpinned public life and identity politics in

the country3. This myth tells the story of Lebanon as a country composed of different “natural,”

religiously defined, communities. In this myth, these religious communities (or sects) are said to

have preexisted the Lebanese state and have maintained historical continuity and cohesion. This

extends to the writing of Lebanese history, which expands and contracts according to the identity

of its historian and his or her communal affiliations. This notion of sectarian pluralism has

dominated both public and private life in Lebanon and has resulted in a particular relationship

between individuals, communal groups, and the state. It is enshrined in various articles of the

constitution and apparent in the judicial organization of daily life that has allowed religious

communities to buffer and mediate the relationship between citizens and the state and among

citizens3. It is also visible in the troubled and sometimes contradictory relation between the civic

notion of the state and the inherent recognition of the “rights” of each religious community.

More critically, this notion of sectarian pluralism has manifested itself recently in increasing

polarization between different communal groups and marginalization of all alternative forms of

identification, and has reinvigorated the idea of Lebanon as a “house of many mansions5.

Sectarianism denotes the exacerbation of ethno-religious divisions among citizens2. In other

words it is a characterizations of a body politic that is riddled with divisions based on religious or

ethnic difference, as the mosaic of diverse sub-national identities that is supposedly represented

by the allocation of the three top governmental posts to representatives of the three main

religious communities3. Sects in Lebanon are considered moral or incorporeal subjects that enjoy

total independence in running their own affairs and religious interests. The head of each sect

represents his community toward the state and other religious communities. The sect has several

roles, the most prominent of which is protecting the freedom of belief of 'its' citizens, particularly

as far as religious practices, freedom of religious education and authority over personal status

laws are concerned. Sects are therefore institutions that play a part in organizing the relationship

between religion and the state in a framework that respects personal beliefs and maintains

religious and cultural pluralism4.

However, sectarian communities are also political subjects that enjoy historic privileges and that

desire and work toward increasing their influence on state institutions and their own political

power6. They have entered the political game and have sought to control various institutions.

These confessional communities have external allegiances and authoritative figures they follow

so much so that external interests sometimes take precedence over national welfare.

METHODOLOGY:

PART I

Toward a Citizen's State is the outcome of three years of an elaborate participatory process that

included multiple roundtables, focus groups, and brainstorming sessions with over 150

academics, experts and policy makers in different fields as well as a wide range of citizens. This

project is the result of a collaborative effort between the United Nations Development Program

(UNDP) and the Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR). This report best argues

the everlasting dilemma of the sectarian Lebanese society and suggests methods and policies to

appease from its bitter effect decrease the pupil’s exposure to the traditional inherited alienations

and shed light on effective ways to practice and feel our citizenship.

Citizenship in Lebanon was addressed in this report from three principle perspectives. The first

addresses citizenship and the sectarian state. It explores the relationship of the state, its

institutions, its constitution and its laws, including personal status laws to citizens. This

exploration also engages with Lebanon's system of consociational democratic governance in its

different manifestations and therefore addresses the relationship of the state to the individual

communities and their representatives and the impact this has on the relationship of citizens to

their state. The second perspective focuses on socio-economic citizenship rights and considers

social policies from the viewpoints of citizenship rights and comprehensive social development

at one and the same time. As such, it examines the relationship of state to citizens and focuses on

the rights to education, health and employment, and addresses the problems of poverty and social

exclusion. The third perspective looks into citizenship, culture and education and explores shared

common cultural values as well as cultural differences that could have a negative impact on

national identity in relation to communal identities as sub-national modes of identification.

This report considers citizenship from a twin perspective-first, as a legal framework that

regulates the interaction between citizens and the state and among citizens themselves, and

second, as a lived experience or practice3. While the former is regulated by the state, the latter is

impacted by social, cultural, and, in Lebanon, religious norms3. In this sense Toward a Citizen's

State attempts to go beyond a rights-based approach to citizenship to emphasize the importance

of social practices that can generate or underpin such rights.

In this spirit, they launched two separate projects that would shed light on different aspects of

citizenship. Given the significance of education to the process of cultivating well informed

citizens, the first project, Education and Citizenship, was undertaken with the aim of identifying

where the youth of Lebanon are today with respect to notions fundamental to democracy,

citizenship and social solidarity and compare them to those of twenty eight other countries. The

second, A Hundred and One Stories to Tell project sought to document civic initiatives in public

life. These were complemented by a comprehensive Statistical Compendium that mapped out the

status of human development in Lebanon in a wide variety of arenas; social, economic, political

and cultural at national and governorate levels where possible3. Education and Citizenship

considers that essential education comprises of the knowledge, concepts and competencies that

every citizen needs to earn to be an active citizen. As such it sought to gauge the extent to which

young people in Lebanon were equipped and ready to exercise the rights and obligations of

citizenship and the degree to which they were prepared to become active citizens. Covering over

3,000 ninth grade students, in public and private schools in Lebanon, the project focused on what

young people (14 year old) should know about a number of topics related to democratic

institutions, including elections, individual rights, national identity, political participation, and

respect for ethnic and political diversity. These concepts were deemed to be vital for democratic

regimes such as the one in Lebanon. It also explored key factors in their educational setting that

impact their civic attitudes and how they compare to their peers in different countries.

These ideas about active citizenship are the reality of hundreds of individuals whose stories are

included in A Hundred and One Stories to Tell book project that reflects a passionate belief in

the positive contribution of individuals and groups towards the construction of their social

realities3. From Lebanon's northern border to its southern tip, it depicts a ground crowded with

individuals and groups passionately invested in constructing hope and seeking change in

Lebanon. At a time of considerable political and social unrest in Lebanon, it particularly is

pertinent to try and capture these passions and say, in a loud and collective voice, citizens still

believe3. They are making a difference and when they get together they do indeed change the

world; at least their own world. In Lebanon, the 101 Stories to tell captured the deep sense of

responsibility that citizens have toward each other and toward their communities. They also

showed the value of cumulative work in pushing and achieving greater democratization and

policy change3. At the same time, they also highlighted disconnect between an active citizenship

on the ground, trying to make a difference and a policy that has flirted with civil conflict on

several occasions in the last few years.

A survey conducted in 2004 by faculty at the Université St. Joseph (USJ) found that around 45.5

per cent of Lebanese believe that confessionalism in general contradicts national unity and

another 42.3 per cent that it contributes to this unity1. However, when the question is applied to

Lebanon the percentage of those who believe that confessionalism is a direct contradiction of

national unity rises to 63.3 per cent while 25.4 per cent believe that it contributes positively;

another 11per cent abstained from responding1. Within communities, the percentage of those

who consider that confessionalism contradicts national unity is also high. More than two thirds

of Lebanese believe in the right not to be subjected to the power of confessional authorities1. Yet

only half of those asked expressed support for a civic status law, while 11.7 per cent did not

respond1. The survey, undertaken by the NHDR in partnership with the Ministry of Education

and Higher Education, to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and concepts of students with regard to

citizenship and democracy, found the following: The grasp of Lebanese students of the three

concepts of citizenship covered in the study, namely democracy, good citizenship, and state

responsibilities, was uneven3. National sentiment among Lebanese students is very strong, with a

powerful penchant toward protectionism and sovereignty3. There is no consensus, however,

among youth on political options that may be described as national or common. A question on

Lebanon's most important historic leader produced a result that was ambiguous at best. The

vagueness of the preferred historical leader suggests that the powerful national sentiment

evidenced in their responses owes more to a desire to glorify the nation than to civic culture3. A

similar ambiguity was evidenced in student responses to questions asking them to identify

countries considered friends or foes of Lebanon.

More than a third of students agree that elections and voting should be condoned by religious

leaders while around a quarter believe that voting in elections should take place based on overall

family preferences3. Furthermore, almost two thirds (64 per cent) of the student population

believe that each religious sect should educate its own 'followers' and should provide educational

grants for them3. This reflects the current strength of religious leaders as the place of first rather

than the last resort for the provision of services as well as for guidance on political choices

across all sects. In the same vein more than 75 per cent of the surveyed students agreed that

ministries and positions in government should be distributed between political leaders equally

while more than half agreed that the three top positions in government should be distributed

among the three main religious sects3. These responses indicate not only an understanding of the

state as an arena where spoils are subdivided among the religious sects and their leaders and thus

an acceptance of the current status quo but also points to an alarming endorsement of this status

quo by the youth of today based on criteria that have nothing to do with merit. On the culture of

law there also seems to be some confusion. Reponses indicated that while students seem to

expect others to respect the law, their criticism of violations of the law are quite limited. In other

words, violations of the law do not solicit strong adverse reactions from students and seem to be

at least partially endorsed by them, reflecting perhaps a confused understanding of legal

sanctions3. This is also a possible reflection of political conditions in Lebanon today, where

breaking the law is sometimes sanctioned by those elected to condone it, and of students'

inconsistent expectations of themselves and others. Finally, the study makes clear that Lebanese

youth derive their political positions for the most part from immediate family contexts and not

from a larger network of peers. It also indicates that their positions on issues of public interest

are gleaned from their home environments and that schools in general are basically the place to

study and master the requisite responses to pass their exams. In addition to their poor exposure to

different media outlets, this situation reinforces their tendency toward uncritical engagement in

politics.

RESULTS:

Recognizing the difficulties of addressing the dilemmas of citizenship in Lebanon and given the

multiple political and social influences on citizens' practices, as well as on the practices of

democracy, a flexible mechanism was necessary, capable of adapting to rapidly changing

circumstances and of allowing the integration of citizens' concerns and actions, beyond the

norms of academic analysis, opinion polls, and surveys. Accordingly, a multifaceted and outward

looking approach has been devised3 as a result of “Toward a Citizen’s State” projects, which

included:

Engage the widest possible range of citizens3

Initiate discussion in a variety of forums on different themes related to citizenship3

Bring diverse citizen voices into the project3

The crisis of citizenship is found in all Lebanon is not limited to Beirut Southern Suburb, and we

used the latter because I currently reside there and had previous experience with schools and

society of the suburb. This triplet plan constitutes a unified complete path toward achieving a

proper understanding and implementation of citizenship. Educational institutions are the major

contributors of this project, because as we said the sense of citizenship should be equally raised

as the child is growing up. The following tools can be gradually implemented in the southern

suburb in cooperation with the municipalities, educational institutions and dominant political

parties. Hezbollah, in specific, is sought to be the obstacle in the face of citizenship for its

relations and evident support from Iran, however, in reality this is an irrational political talk that

attempts for dividing the Lebanese more. I am not in a position to speak on the behalf of

Hezbollah, but as a student raised in Dahyeh, this political party has done services and activities

that make us closer to our country and sense of citizenship.

To achieve these goals and cover the three main aspects of citizenship in Lebanon the study has

used various tools:

RESEARCH AND DISCUSSION FORUMS3

Substantive desk research on the theme

Commissioning twelve background papers, four workshop presentations and nineteen

discussants to define problems and concepts

Organization of thirty-seven discussion forums and roundtables including academics,

practitioners, and members of the general public. These included:

Twelve workshops and fifteen thematic focus groups meetings (on six themes);

Four general roundtables with specific groups;

Two training workshops for young journalists and university students;

Partnership with a young NGO on three discussion forums with university students

; One discussion forum with high school students;

ENGAGEMENT AND OUTREACH3

One major activity entitled 101 Stories to Tell that aimed to solicit citizenship initiatives

in public life. This entailed a wide scale campaign involving the distribution of 12,000

posters and brochures across the country to all municipalities, public and private schools,

MoSA's NGO centers, and hundreds of independent NGOs as well as Television

commercials that ran for 2 months on the five major news channels in the country.

A large media campaign on the one hundred and one stories that proved to be the most

powerful advocacy tools for the promotion of citizenship. The campaign had a simple

idea and included coordination with the five major newspapers in Lebanon (three Arabic,

one English, and one French) as well as with the seven major television stations, which

all featured these stories in different programs. The idea was that no two news outlets

would carry the same story but all would appear under the same title, of 101 Stories to

Tell.

Launch of a website to encourage forum discussions on the theme and background

papers. The website has become a major resource for researchers, policy makers, and

members of the public seeking data and other matters related to the theme.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS3

A major survey on education and citizenship that assesses the concepts, knowledge,

attitudes, and actions of ninth grade students on citizenship and democracy. It included

3,111 students in 113 public and private schools in the six governorates (mohafazat) of

Lebanon. It also included questionnaires for school principals and civic education

teachers.

Preparation of a statistical annex that includes political and cultural as well development

indicators. The aim is to establish a reference point for academics, policy makers, and

researchers alike.

Calculating new Human Development Indices for Lebanon including the HPI-2 and the

Gender Empowerment Index (GEM) as well as disaggregating the HDI on both gender

and regional bases.

Preparing an updated Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) balance sheet.

IMMEDIATE POLICY OUTCOMES3

Establishment of an Education and Citizenship Observatory in partnership with the Ministry of

Education and Higher Education and experts in the fields of education. The aim of this

observatory is to assess the impact of civic education and pedagogical context on the attitudes,

knowledge, and actions of students using the education and citizenship survey results; co-

organize workshops on the matter; make results with regards to the impact of educational politics

and practices on democratic citizenship and peace building better known to decision-makers,

researchers, specialists and teachers; and monitor in coordination with concerned NGOs progress

on the impact of policy or curricular change.

PART II:

Following the French mandate (1918-1943), the Lebanese government established necessary

transitions towards an independent republic through education reform. Thus, the national

curriculum of 1946 aimed at promoting the Arabic language and the Lebanese national identity

and citizenship education became a statutory subject from grades one to twelve2. Citizenship

education, as a subject, is officially titled National and Civic Education; in short, referred to as

Civics. To illustrate, civic education pertains more specifically to the national level with special

references to civil laws, civil behaviors and nationalistic feelings and a more formal teaching. On

the other hand, citizenship education is more deeply embedded in human rights education,

sustainability and other themes that interchange across global, cultural and national levels of

identity which involves practical and active learning1. Hence, Osler and Starkey (2005) make a

more appropriate distinction identifying civic education as being more institutional while

citizenship education as more generic1.

National and Civic Education has been recently developed as part of the revised 1997 National

Curriculum. Although it primarily focus on the Lebanese and Arab identities and the knowledge

of civil laws and procedures, its nine main aims in the national curriculum do highlight universal

values of peace and justice and active participation in the civil and political life.

Nine main aims of National and Civic Education

1. “…humanistic values in his community and country”.

2. “…spirit for work and appreciation for workers in different fields”.

3. “…to contribute to world development…”

4. “…critique, debate and to accept the other…peace, justice and equality”.

5. “…a social spirit…larger community…enriched with a diversity of ideas”.

6. “…free participation in his civil life”.

7. “…Lebanese identity…through a cohesive and unifying democratic framework”.

8. “…Arab identity…open to the whole world”.

9. “…regardless of gender, color, religion, language, culture and any other differences”.

Taken from The Programmes of General Education and their Aims (Ministry of Education,

1997).

Another research study carried out by Dr. Bassel Akar, is grounded in two frameworks of

citizenship education – concepts and pedagogy. Akar turned to Osler and Starkey’s concept of

citizenship being ‘status’, ‘feelings’ and ‘practice’ as a framework in exploring the

conceptualizations of citizenship in Lebanon. From this, feelings are related to one’s identity and

sense of belonging while practice refers to behaviors and actions based on democratic and

humanistic principles1. Since education plays a lead role in socializing the child for communities

outside the school, practicing citizenship inside the classroom (and school) socializes the child

for the ‘real world’ outside the school1. More specifically, dialogic practices such as debates and

discussions further promote a citizenship of humanistic and democratic principles.

By looking at what citizenship means to students, we may better understand their difficulties in

learning citizenship inside the classroom.

First part in the methodology begins research into understanding the challenges of learning

citizenship in Lebanon’s civics classrooms and investigates how some secondary school students

view their own citizenship. Parts A and B looked at their concepts of citizenship and Part C

explored their learning experiences in the classroom.

Part A was a diamond ranking exercise which was done in pairs1. Each pair was given

nine small pieces of paper with themes of citizenship written on them. The students were

asked to paste them on a diamond-shaped model starting with what they considered to be

the most important on top, to medium important and finally least important at the bottom

Part B, which also explored student conceptualizations of citizenship, had two

subsections of open-ended questions1. The first subsection asked the students to write

down three things they have done and three feelings they have felt that they consider to

have made them better people in their community or communities. Following this, they

were also asked to write down three things they would like to know which would help

them become more effective participants in society. The second subsection asked them

to answer the same questions but for an anonymous person who they consider to be an

effective member in society.

Parts A and B will allow me to better understand what citizenship means to them

by identifying the feelings and practices associated with their concepts and

experiences.

The final part comprised four open-ended questions1: 1) what lesson they had enjoyed

most in their Civics class; 2) what lesson was most difficult; 3) how they would improve

the Civics class in general; and 4) space to write comments during the class discussion.

RESULTS:

School A1:

In their top priorities, three of the four groups of students had placed knowing the laws of the

country you live in within the top three spaces. While half the students had put knowing the

history of the country you live in as a top priority, that entire half had placed it in the first single

layer. In the middle layer, three of the four groups had protecting the environment while half the

students also placed volunteering for community service and knowing the history of the country

you live in. Finally, three groups had placed knowing good manners and taking care of your

health as low priorities and half the students also placed debating with others and singing the

national anthem. See Figure 1 for bar graph presentations of the data.

School B1:

Ten of eleven groups had put knowing the laws of the country in the top priority layers. None of

the groups had put volunteering in the community, protecting the environment, or taking care of

your health in the top layers. All the themes were placed at least once in the medium layer with

volunteering in the community as the most frequent. At the lowest priorities, ten groups had put

protecting the environment. ‘Knowing the laws of the country’ in both schools was primarily top

‘knowing your rights as a human’ was averaged between top and medium.

FINDINGS:

From these findings, we can start to identify an emerging theme that shows a strong sense of

belonging to the national civic or political community with a minimal awareness of a global

community (human rights and environment). Furthermore, ‘taking care of your health’ was

mainly viewed as a low priority; The qualitative data collected from the open-ended section of

the survey pack are coded across three areas: ‘self’; ‘role model’; and ‘would like to…’. These

three sets further illustrate their notions of citizenship. The first code, ‘self’, presents statements

the students have made on their own experiences of citizenship which include things they have

done and feelings they have felt1. The same is done for a role model; what a particular person has

done and how the student thinks the person felt. Finally, the code ‘would like to…’ presents the

students’ comments on what they would like to know to help them become better or more

effective members in the community or communities.

Looking at what the students found representative of effective citizenship in ‘self’, ‘role models’

and ‘would like to…’, the emerging themes have been coded in two categories: ‘actions’ and

‘feelings’ of citizenship1. Across both schools, ‘actions’ primarily illustrated values for

humanistic and democratic principles. These included regards to the environment, helping those

in need, respecting others’ opinions and properties, caring for the environment, sacrifice and

receiving an education. Helping others through donating money or directly providing necessities

such as shelter and food were expressed from almost all the student participants. Other examples

of helping others included knowing first-aid and donating blood. The examples include some

specific to the 2006 war context such as “providing food and shelter during the war” and “defend

the country”.

Another war-specific value expressed by a few students was giving up time and even life (i.e.

Martyrdom) for the benefit of society1. One of the students’ role models “sacrificed time and

blood for the country”. This notion of sacrifice is quite unique in contemporary models of

citizenship due to its controversial implications1. This concept has emerged from the presence of

resistance throughout the Lebanese history, and more specifically the resistance of Hezbollah. Besides resistance, Hezbollah’s activities comprise educational, social and economic services.

By advocating principles of justice and equal opportunities toward the less fortunate, Hezbollah

offers medical care, educational services via schools and technical institutions all over Lebanon,

especially to rural and economically disadvantaged regions. The latter presents a good model of

an ideal party, but is it taking the role of the government?

This finding implicates further explorations on these two interpretations of altruistic behavior of

sacrificing time and energy and the behavior of sacrificing one’s life across students’ concepts of

citizenship in Lebanon. Furthermore, it also raises critical questions on the extent to which the

notions of sacrifice and altruism are valued as humanistic principles amongst adolescents in

Lebanon.

The students’ democratic values and principles illustrated various degrees of civic behavior

ranging from active to passive1. Several students had noted their active participation in youth

groups such as scouts. Several students expressed, through their own experiences, the value of

protesting and demonstrating1. Moreover, it was also interesting to see that expressing your

opinion was also highly valued1. Valuing the freedom of speech appears significant for some

students. These students appear to value various active forms of political engagement

particularly towards the national community.

More than half the students in both schools combined expressed the will to vote (since they are

under the voting age)1. Also, across the three categories in School B, a majority of the students

had emphasized that paying taxes and respecting the law were key for civic behavior1. Although

the two forms of civic participation may be interpreted as minimal forms of citizenship, they

nevertheless appear quite significant in understanding their behaviors and feelings as members of

a national community. Although they had prioritized human rights in the diamond exercise, the

students did not express a sense of a global identity throughout the open-ended sections1.

Finally, describing the actions and feelings of role models intended to project an image of the

good citizen. One characteristic was “fighting for and defending your country” and “being part

of a resistance” which highlighted a high regard towards nationalistic feelings1. Another role

model characterized this through the organization of dialogic activities engaging “people from

different religions and sects and uniting them under one title, love of nation”1. From this strong

sense of nationalism also come the civic duties of being “bound by all the laws of the country”

and the will to build national unity. The students also found that helping those less fortunate such

as funding children’s medical and educational needs to also be good practice of the good citizen.

There also emerged an appreciation for the practice of consensual agreement. One students’ role

model’s behaviors come from the existing knowledge that “the country can only exist through

consensual agreement”.

These students also enjoyed the lessons on the elections and democracy and found them

important because they were related to our daily lives and this is a civic duty that each citizen has

to practice in order to participate in the public sphere and expressing their views on what the

government does. In this lesson we had an important discussion where we spoke about issues

concerning the country.

Students raised concerns regarding repetition and pragmatics1. Not only are some of the specific

lessons repeated, but they appear rather impractical and thus a waste when not related to current

events or their daily lives. It appears that the issue is not the content per se, but more so, from a

curricular perspective, in identifying the relationship between the content and its pragmatics in

being effective members of the community or communities1. Also, the methods of instruction

seem to be regarded as a major concern. Clearly, within these two schools, rote learning appears

somewhat as common practice; hence, valued as a teaching tool for certain topics1. Students, on

the other hand, value dialogic practice as both a civic skill and an effective learning experience.

The student’s experiences in the classroom are often “chaotic” and “aggressive “and associated

with fear sometimes. Students are being taught to respect each other’s religion and positions in a

wrong way. They should be learning the ethics of debates and discussions, argumentation and

codes of proper communication skills. The question is that why the civic education doesn’t

encompass such modern methods of expression?

Nevertheless, we must not forget the legislative restrictions schools and teachers face when

teaching controversial topics such as Lebanese politics in a national context of politically-rooted

tensions and conflicts. In addition, traditional pedagogical methods that the teachers themselves

have experienced as students also play a critical role in their confidence and skills1. While the

students feel that living the experience through activities and projects, there still remains deep-

rooted challenges in the paradigm shift of rote-learning to more active and participative methods

of teaching and learning. Finally, the students’ perceptions of a fragmented society and

corruption appear to play a role in their learning confidence of the subject. There appears to be a

sense of de-motivation from hypocrisies they have found in their surroundings.

The challenges of teaching and learning citizenship can be further understood by looking at the

students’ concepts of citizenship and their relations to learning experiences within the classroom.

According to these students, citizenship, or the actions and feelings these students consider to be

necessary in promoting effective membership in society, constitutes several basic themes – a

strong sense of belonging and identity for the national community; a high regard for the

knowledge of civic rights as a presupposition to active participation; and the will to develop

skills necessary for effective dialogue, democratic participation and the promotion of

environmental and health awareness1. However, the political and social environment and the

traditional teaching methods delivered in the classroom present several contradictions to how

these students perceive their development of citizenship. Therefore, the paradoxical relationship

between what the students perceive as effective citizenship and the ‘citizenship’ society

presented to these students not only challenge education as a tool for social cohesion but also

suggest the need for a critical paradigm shift in teaching and learning approaches within the

civics classroom3. Although they were interpreted as ‘minimal’ notions of citizenship, the

students still demonstrated more dynamic concepts of citizenship in their open-ended responses1.

These students expressed dynamic behaviors based on humanistic and democratic values such as

helping those in need, raising awareness of environmental and health issues, voting and

participating in demonstrations. Moreover, they also expressed a strong sense of belonging to the

national Lebanese community over a sectarian, regional or global one1. Finally, students

expressed concerns over having their learning experiences more coherent with their active and

participative notions of citizenship1. This included moving away from traditions of rote learning

to more active approaches such as projects, activities and in-class debates. Moreover, these

issues also contribute to the challenges of considering any paradigm shift; such as using active

and collaborative teaching and learning methods as additional tools that would support the

traditionally-approached learning of civic laws and human rights. The youth in Lebanon are

clearly aware of the social and political tensions and potential conflicts in their society. They are

also highly motivated to participate in an active, democratic and humanistic society by wanting

to know “how to solve the country’s problems”. Continuous investigations into the challenges of

teaching and learning citizenship is critical in strengthening a sense of community and living

together in Lebanon and possibly also making sense of similar challenges in other post conflict

pluralistic societies around the world.

Conclusion:

Although I could not implement my proposed research plan due to previously listed reasons, but

the two studies provided fulfilled the aim of this paper, which was assessing the current

citizenship status among our students and devise the proper methodology to repair or augment

what is present from our citizenship. The first step in the transition toward a citizen's state in

Lebanon should be to restore content and relevance to political debate at all levels3. In this

context, the interests of citizens as part of a communal grouping have replaced their interests as

individual members of a larger national polity. To restore content to politics, a discussion of

what it means to be a citizen in Lebanon needs to take place. Such a discussion will by necessity

begin from the question of what type of nation does Lebanese society aspire to and what sort of

state should it thus have? Without the capacity to guarantee the rights of citizenship, sustainable

development and democracy cannot be maintained. In this regard, we need to move beyond the

framework of electoral democracy, which, despite its importance, is not enough. Calls for a wide

reaching and honest debate should be made, and not only on the role of the state, but on the ways

in which it can respond to the nation to which the Lebanese aspire. Such a debate would have to

tackle the place and role of Lebanon's confessional communities, the economy, social

development, and cultural pluralism. It also needs to address the ways in which the state can

effectively guarantee the security of all its citizens, insure a functioning legal system, settle

conflicts in accordance with democratic rules, and establish macro-economic balance whilst

strengthening social security and development options for its citizens based on the principle of

universality and focus on empowerment of citizens and giving them greater control over their

own lives rather than disempowering religious communities. We will have to transcend beyond

the narrow confines formed by political parties and families and stop using religion as a mean to

separate interests among the chiefs. We have to establish new definitions and roles that suit the

Lebanese mosaic society.

REFERNCES:

1Akar, B.(2007). Citizenship education in Lebanon: An introduction into students’ concepts and

learning experience. Educate~ Vol.7, No.2, 2007, pp. 2-18

2Mobarak, W., Msarah, A., & Joseph, S.(1999). Building Citizenship in Lebaon.

Lebanese American University

3NHDR(2009).Toward a Citizen’s State. UNDP

http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/nationalreports/arabstates/lebanon/name,3303,en.html

4Sadiki, L. (2004) The search for Arab democracy: Discourses and counter-discourses.

London: Hurst and Company. 5Salibi, K. (1990). A House of Many Mansions: The History of Lebanon Reconsidered California

University of California Press.

6Tawil, S., and Harley, A. (eds). (2004) Education, Conflict and Social Cohesion.

Geneva: UNESCO International Bureau of Education.

7 Frayha, N. (2004). Developing Curriculum as a Means to Bridging National Divisions in

Lebanon.

Geneva: UNESCO International Bureau of Education.