The School
National Evangelical Institute for Girls and Boys is one of the National Evangelical Synod Schools in Lebanon. It is a private school and the union of two old and historical famous institutions: Sidon Evangelical School for Girls( SESG ) that was first founded in 1862 and Gerard Institute for the boys that was first founded in 1881 by the missionaries Rev. William King Eddy and Dr. George Ford.
The Girl's school, which had a pioneering role in the education of women in the Near East ,started in a single house in old Saida, and then moved into a better nearby .In 1924 the school moved to a new location in Ain El-Hilweh near Saida, where it still exists. It consisted of independent buildings for administration, , pre-elementary classrooms,(Elementary to Secondary Sections) a modern kitchen, sewing room, library section, laboratories, and dining room.
The boarders lived in a system of cottages, where each cottage housed a group of students under the patronage of the "cottage mother". This system offered a family environment where the girls enjoyed the mother's care and guidance.
The school continued to be directed by American leaders , and Miss Teagarden was the last. At that time the school was famous for its "Home Economics" and” Childcare” curriculum that prepared the girls to become better mothers and housewives in the future . Students had courses in cooking (in a specially equipped kitchen laboratory), dining room arrangement, sewing, child caring and other related courses. In the early days of the school, the language of instruction was Arabic. Then it became English, and French was and still taught as a second language
Later on, in 1953, Mrs Wadad Khoury Jiha, the first Lebanese Principal, took over. She developed the school's curriculum to fit into that of the official one of the Lebanese Ministry of Education, and kept the home economics and childcare curriculum. After the independence of Lebanon in 1945, new laws were enacted by the Ministry of Education specifying the rules for entrance into universities, and recognition of university degrees. All Lebanese students should have a Lebanese Baccalaureate Part II as a prerequisite for enrollment in the universities, and consequently to evaluate any university degree the bearer should have a Lebanese Baccalaureate Part II.
Parallel to Sidon Girls' School, a school for boys was founded by the early missionaries in 1880 in a rented house. When the missionaries faced some difficulties in expanding the school to include a boarding department, one of the two native teachers, Yuakim El-Rasi, volunteered to take the first step in this direction.
He took four young men as the first boarder students to live with him in his own house. In the fall of 1881, the school had to move to a bigger location since the place became too small to accommodate the large number of students who came from all over Lebanon, Syria and Palestine to enroll in the school. The two founders, Rev. William Eddy and Dr. George Ford, tried in vain to get a license from the Othoman Empire to build a school. Later they were able to get a license to build personal living quarters. When they started the construction in 1884. The government objected that the building under construction was not a house but a school. The mission-aries didn't yield to such pressure, and continued the construction. In 1884, the school moved to its new building in down-town Saida, which included all the academic and boarding facilities. The school was called "Gerard Institute" and the new building was called "Wood Hall", all in recognition of the family of the generous donator "Sara Wood Gerard".
Gerard Institute, like its sister school Sidon Girls' School, offered both the academic and technical training. The academic branch included the regular courses as described' by Dr. George Ford in 1903: Arabic language, (both grammar and literature), logic, philosophy, review of judicial sentences, and mental philosophy. The technical branch included carpentry, blacksmithing, sewing, shoe making and building. Hence, the Arabic name of the school" Madrasat Al Fonoon" (The translation of the School of Arts) was given to the instruction. Later on, the technical curriculum was stopped, except for the commerce program which was added in the sixties. In 1986 the two schools(S.E.S.G + GERAD) were combined to what is now known as N.E.I.G.B.
In July 1997, Dr. Jean Daoud became our principal , a predomimant member of our school with highly applicable future visions, a pioneer in his field as his predecessors. He foresaw the need for two major branches in education in the south of Lebanon. So with unwavering determination he established the TS and LT. (Child Education & Special Education) because of the increased number of students with special educational needs. And at the same time he also established the first High School Program for students who were abroad and came back to south Lebanon to help them pursue their education without any delays. Moreover in 2003 he introduced the "Happiness Center" for 2 year-old children . This class aims at exposing toddlers to a rich environment and prepares them for a better preschool life.
In 2007 , the need of L.C.D. rooms to aid instructional teaching arose. So the school was equipped with 7 L.C.D. rooms which were all ready before the beginning of the scholastic year 2006-2007.
Now Our School has five sections:
1- Pre-elementary school, that consist of happiness (2 years) Nursery (3 years), K.G.I (4 years), and the KG II (5 years).
2- Elementary : (Grades 1 to 6)
3- Intermediate : Classes (7 to 9) ending with an official government exam (The Brevet).
4- Secondary : is a 3 year study and we have:
*American System: where students get a High School degree
* Vocational System : where students get a B.T. degree in accounting and Computer Science
* Lebanese System : where students get Bacc. II in Life Sciences, General Sciences , Humanities, or Economics
5-College where by students get
* T.S. degree. in Special Education
* T.S. degree in Child Education
* L.T. in General Education.
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