SYRIA: Francophone Catholic schools, the ignored soft power of Europe
by Willy Fautré, director of Human Rights Without Frontiers
HRWF (05.03.2025) – On 6-7 of February , Cairo was hosting the 5th Colloquium of Francophone Schools in the Middle East, organized by Catholic charity L’Œuvre d’Orient.
The meeting saw 350 Catholic education professionals come together to exchange views on their mission amid regional challenges. Guests included His Beatitude Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak, Patriarch of the Coptic Catholic Church, and Franco-Egyptian journalist Robert Solé.
Francophone schools in the Middle East provide quality education to over 400,000 students, promoting the French language and humanistic values while ensuring educational stability and professional prospects for young people in the face of regional crises. This is a soft power that should be increasingly empowered by EU countries.
Syria: An Educational and Social Centre for the Poor in Aleppo
In 7 years of war, nearly 300,000 people have died, millions have been displaced and a third of the population have been forced into exile.
Many universities have had to close. At the same time, the exile of qualified professionals and academics has considerably lowered the general standard of education. Young women are the first to be marginalised from the educational system
To cope with this situation, the Feshet Sama Centre (“Heavenly Space” in Arabic) has set up an educational monitoring system for children and adults, regardless of their religious or social backgrounds, who do not have the means to continue their schooling.
The centre is continually developing and now has 400 students — 50 more than last year. 80% of the beneficiaries are girls or young women, most of whom come from areas that have been occupied by Daesh, Jabat al-Nosra, and various rebel groups. The association seeks to empower them and provide the means for their social inclusion.
Moreover, the centre offers collective programmes that help all communities to really live side by side in harmony: a peace education programme, psychological and social support for mothers and children, manual work, academic programmes, etc.
Many families, ruined by the war, cannot afford to pay for a year’s study at the “Feshet Sama Centre.” Their intention is however to train 50 additional students, an investment of €45,400 for the centre. Moreover, the Feshet Sama Centre initiative could subsequently be replicated in other Syrian cities.
Private initiatives like the one of the “Feshet Sama Centre” are sometimes more efficient soft power tools for the local population, for peace and for the image of Europe than any advocacy for EU funding that is disregarded by Brussels for various reasons.
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