Page "Butrus al-Bustani" Paragraph 9

Following the Maronite / Druze civil war of Mount Lebanon in 1860, al-Boustani, having witnessed these political / religious tensions, published an irregular newspaper which he called Nafir al-Surriya ( a Clarion of Syria ), wherein he voiced his ideal of a Syrian fatherland.

Along with instilling Syrian Patriotism and “ proto-nationalism ”, Al-Boustani sought to reform education and so founded the madrasah al-Wataniyya in Beirut in 1863, his own National School in Lebanon where he applied his theories on education, namely his educational agenda.

The National School educated its students in Arabic, French, English, Turkish, Latin and Greek and modern sciences without the pretense of religion but with an obvious nationalistic aim.

Al-Boustani welcomed students from all religions and races and qualified staff not based on their religious standing but their competence and professional qualities.

The school was successful because it was unique in Syria at the time as being an educational institution based on secular ideals of equality and non-discrimination and thus stood against the religious schools that were closed off to the modern world.

However, the rising religious solidarity in Syria eventually led to it being closed in 1878.