From kindergartens to universities, many students are receiving an education thanks to ACN-funded programmes in crisis-hit countries around the world, where Christian communities are in danger of extinction.
As a new school year begins in many parts of the world, thousands of children in Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Syria, Lebanon, and other crisis-hit countries face great obstacles to returning to the classroom. For them, schooling is often made possible thanks to the support of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
In the 2024-2025 academic year, 3,895 teachers benefitted from stipends provided by ACN and 12,373 students received direct scholarships from the foundation in eight countries — not simply to promote education, but as part of urgent efforts to help Christian families remain in their homelands in the face of persecution, displacement, and even the threat of extinction.
In these contexts, a school is more than a place of learning: it is a refuge, a sign of stability, a way to support the local Church as it shoulders the immense burden of ensuring education continues and providing a reason for hope that Christian communities can survive and rebuild in lands where their future is under grave threat.
ACN’s support comes in many shapes and forms, from providing material such as computers and printers to Christ the King Primary School, in the Diocese of Yei, South Sudan, to the actual building of school structures in places like Erbil, Iraq, and for internally displaced Christians in Burkina Faso.
Schools in Pakistan were provided with solar panels, which help make them self-sufficient and cut down on energy expenses, while ACN also helped fund a programme to get children who had abandoned their studies, for different reasons, to return.
There were also specific projects for refugees, such as the 200 Iraqi students in Jordan who were able to continue their education thanks to funding for the Messengers of Peace Center in Marka, Amman.
Syria is one of the countries where ACN supported most projects, including emergency support which allowed more than 20 schools to continue to operate, and several hundred teachers to continue to receive salaries thanks to ACN stipends. Notably, this funding is of an ecumenical nature, and includes several schools operated by the Orthodox Church.
Thousands helped in Lebanon
Lebanon is an example of ACN’s dedication to helping Christian schools. The country has suffered significant instability over the past decade, including a crippling financial crisis, long-term political and social instability, the 2020 Beirut port explosion which levelled an entire neighbourhood of the capital, and multiple conflicts with Israel.
Many families would not have been able to pay tuition fees, nor schools pay teachers their salaries, if it had not been for ACN support.
In all, the pontifical foundation gives direct financial support to 191 schools in Lebanon, which are attended by a total of over 170,000 pupils. Between teachers and students, over 11,000 people receive direct aid from ACN.
According to statistics obtained by the foundation, over 17,000 students are believed to have left Christian schools in recent years because of the instability in the country. Many of them moved to state-run schools because they could no longer afford the tuition in private Christian schools, but a large number left the country entirely with their families. The foundation’s support is an important factor in stemming the exodus of Christians from Lebanon.
Aiming higher in Iraq
Although most of ACN’s activity in the field of education involves children, the charity has also helped many university students to complete their studies.
The support provided to the Catholic University in Erbil (CUE), for example, has been crucial in allowing the Church to provide a much-needed high quality service in a country that is still recovering from years of difficulties, bloodshed and persecution.
Almost 300 students at the CUE receive ACN scholarships. The student body is composed mostly of Christians, but is multi-ethnic and multi-religious, with students from the majority Muslim population, and also from other minorities such as the much-persecuted Yezidis.
As schools and universities in the northern hemisphere begin another academic year, ACN remains committed to ensuring that as many young people as possible receive quality education, especially in countries that are affected by emergency situations such as poverty, persecution, instability and war, with a particular focus on Christian communities in danger of extinction.
By Filipe d’Avillez.
