College SSCC - SSCC Jbeil - Byblos, Lebanon

In 2014, our college celebrated its 125th anniversary!

If her mission has grown with more than 1,600 students, 3 baccalaureate degrees, more than 150 speakers, 2 establishments, it remains fundamentally consistent with that which Sister Barbara Khalil, mariamette, led some 150 years ago right here…

We are in 1863, in Amchit where the Mariamettes had installed one of their houses the previous year. Sister Barbara, responding to the request of families, comes to Jbeil to do catechesis. In March 1863, she opened a small school there. Little girls come to learn reading, writing and catechism. The first results, in June of the same year, are considered satisfactory.

Of course, it will take years before the school takes off. It will experience vicissitudes of all kinds, setbacks,  

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financial pitfalls too. For a time, for example, it owed its survival to the financial support of the Sfeir family, who paid for all the students' supplies, and of sister Hilainé, who taught there.

In 1863, it is in any case the only school of Jbeil, which it will remain until the dawn of the XX th century. In 1908, Jbeil had 7 private schools, the first official school was not created until 1935.


Sainte-Léontine school

C ike counterparts that are emerging elsewhere in Lebanon, school Mariamettes Jbeil is not seen as favorably by everyone. He is criticized for wanting to educate young girls at a time when morality advocates more their maintenance in a certain ignorance and their confinement in household tasks.

The Mariamettes do not intend to falter. No more than the Poor Girls of the Sacred Heart, another Lebanese order, who also devote all their efforts to the education of girls. Both congregations have the support of P è Jesuits res avant-garde for its time, following which they were born.

The Mariamettes and the Poor girls of the Sacred Heart will soon merge. The union took place in 1883. The Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary was born.

The existing schools are therefore found in the large house of the Holy Hearts. Adventures slow down or interrupt all the activities of the new congregation for several years. The college of Jbeil as we know it today was officially born in 1888.

The institution is not yet called College of the Sisters of the Holy Hearts. We first talk about the École Sainte-Léontine after the name of a French lady who, as a legacy, gave a lot of good to the establishment. A little later, it will be known by the only name of College Saint Jean-Marc named after the Patron Saint of the neighboring cathedral.

Girl education

At the heart of the mission of the nuns therefore: the education of the young girl. We are in the XIX th century, and it is not a question of making students activists of male-female egalitarianism. Above all, we want to prepare young girls for their task as housewife. In 1907, the school registers and the report of the patriarchal vicar mention that the girls learn to read in both languages, Arabic and French, sewing and some manual work while the boys learn more Syriac as well as grammar, conjugation and calculation.

The fact remains that the demand for education is growing. The college is growing. At the turn of XX th century, SSCC Jbeil together one hundred students (100 in 1892, 70 in 1900 and 100 in 1907). In 1924, there were 107 pupils spread over three levels (large, medium and small). The demand explodes. At the beginning of the 1940s, pupils from neighboring or even distant villages presented themselves. Their parents are claiming boarding school. It's done. The rural exodus in the late 1940s only increased the pressure on all the schools in Jbeil. In 1949-1950, the SSCC welcomed more than 300 students, including 75 for kindergarten alone, divided into 8 classes. The progression will continue to reach 2,000 students in the 1990s.

The 2000s were marked by the events that we know and their corollary at the level of the establishment: the workforce was decreasing. Families leave the country, others face financial difficulties. But economic concerns are not unique to our time. In the distant past of the college, as we have seen, donations and legacies have enabled the establishment to last. Another example: at the end of the 1 st World War, a priest had donated land to the sisters to ensure the education of children.

Whatever the era, successive leaders did everything in their power to help families of students in need. If children are currently sponsored by Lebanese or foreign charities, actions continue to mark the school year (eg the traditional end-of-year fair, the Dictation all for 1 in 2011-2012) which will feed the College's Solidarity Fund.

As for tuition fees, it is enough to look at the registers to see that they have always experienced fluctuations or even runaway inflation. An example: in 1942-1943, their amount varied between 10 and 30 Lebanese pounds; in 1945-1946, the range had gone from 20 to 110 LL.

Double graduation Lebanese and French

In the college garden, a young woman and a young man will soon be united by the bonds of marriage. Her name is Azizé Al Mouallah and comes from Syria. The young Alaouite converted a few days earlier to the Christian religion. He, Issa Mahfouz, is the gardener of the college. All the students and educators are gathered around them.

We are in 1954 and for three years, at the college of Jbeil, education is no longer limited to only Lebanese and French study certificates. Singing and piano have been added to the program and most importantly, students can now prepare for the certificate. Lebanese and French double diplomas are customary. French educational institutions have always accompanied the progress of the college, which regularly received the visit of inspectors responsible for assessing the conformity of training with the requirements of the programs.

The French mandate over Lebanon has expired since 1943. However, the breakdown of the institutional link has not altered the intense relations maintained by the two countries, in particular in the field of education. Over time, the relationship has changed. The collaboration was established on the basis of a partnership, The French Institute in Lebanon and its branches in Jbeil and Tripoli continue to be privileged interlocutors of our college through training for teachers or projects incorporating students. And the French continues to be the 2 e language teaching college alongside Arabic.

Let anglophiles be reassured: their favorite language has its worthy place. By 1955, moreover, parents had asked for the introduction of English into the curriculum. This language is now taught from the class of EB1.

Today, the Lebanese school landscape has changed. Our college prepares girls and boys equally for Lebanese official baccalaureate and patent diplomas.

Dual localization

The long history of our college is made up of constants that distinguish and strengthen it. Although, by necessity, the college has been partially relocated, it continues where it started, opposite the Saint Jean-Marc cathedral. All Kindergarten, Complementary and Secondary students continue to join the premises located in the heart of the old town of Jbeil every morning.

It was there that in 1863 a classroom was set up with, just above, a room for the sisters. The steady increase in numbers during the first half of the XX th century pushed the college out of its walls and to project on the other side of the street in a new building. At the same time, we adapt to the clientele. In 1961, the college's diary announced the " creation and equipping of a kindergarten " and in 1962, the creation of a " covered courtyard for the little ones ".

In the 1970s, more space had to be found: prefabricated units were installed, which remained in service until, ten years later, a second building was created within the precincts. A true island of Saint-Cœurs is emerging in the alleys of Jbeil. We are however still cramped.

From the 80s, it is clear that the building of Jbeil is insufficient. And it is on the hill of Hboub, ten minutes from downtown Jbeil, that a building of some 1,400 m 2 on 3 levels will emerge entirely dedicated to primary classes.

Twenty classrooms, laboratories, computer rooms, other multi-purpose rooms, a BCD, an infirmary, offices, a large theater, 3000 m 2 play areas including a covered courtyard. It is a modern school which was inaugurated in 2004 in the presence of Mgr Béchara Rahi, then bishop of Jbeil and already a faithful companion of our college.

Actor of my company and witness to my Faith

P our that up " human dough " as called for their profession of faith, the Sisters of the Holy Hearts have always anchored their work with young people in local life. It can involve participating in or contributing to social activities or, of course, catechetical missions. Very quickly , young students are therefore invited to get involved.

In 1954, we see them accompanying the remains of Patriarch Archbishop Antoun Boutros Arida on the way to Dimane. They are found in 1961, welcoming President Camille Chamoun and the King of Greece during their passage in Jbeil on the route des Cèdres. On several occasions, during the 1960s, they participated in the Jbeil Tree Festival.

These great moments, like all the ceremonies of the Independence Day organized inside or outside the walls of the college, cannot hide the discreet but unalterable missionary work as well as the testimonies of Faith. For decades, for example, the pupils, alongside the Sisters, provided catechesis in official schools in the region. They are active in the Marian Congregation or in the Ladies of the Flame . They are also very present in the Saint-Jean Marc parish, animating the mass, participating in the Marian procession or even watching the Blessed Sacrament as in 1968.

The Jesuit Fathers, who presided over the creation of the Congregation of the Holy Hearts, always accompanied the nuns in the launching and the development of their schools. On numerous occasions, we see fathers alongside the nuns to animate retreats thus contributing to the development of the students, their human and spiritual training. Because, faithful to the spirit of the Congregation, the colleges of the Holy Hearts have always sought to promote " Any man without discrimination of ethnicity, language, religion and social class and All man , in his personal dimensions , social, cultural and spiritual. "