Hezbollah’s Influence in South Lebanon Teachers’ Union Conference: Blending Education with Propaganda

The annual conference of the Teachers’ Union in South Lebanon, held in recent days, became another platform for Hezbollah’s propaganda. The event was dedicated to glorifying Hezbollah’s contribution to education and justifying its continued possession of weapons. Slogans of “resistance” and claims that education in Lebanon relies on Hezbollah rather than the state were heard during the conference. Hezbollah operates within both public and private education systems in Lebanon and runs its own independent education system. The education unit, operating under the Executive Council, oversees the education sector, with several organizations under its authority. Two prominent organizations operate on behalf of Hezbollah within Lebanon’s general education system. The first is the Educational Recruitment Organization (EAH), which includes, among others, the Teachers’ Union, a licensed professional association with thousands of teachers across Lebanon. EAH works to create an identity linking knowledge, jihad, education, and faith in service of the resistance, the homeland, and the nation, as preparation for the “Imam Mahdi state.” The second is The Islamic Religious Education Association (AIRE), aimed at strengthening Shia Islamic education in external institutions. Within Hezbollah’s independent education system, the Al-Mahdi school network, with 17 schools, and the Imam Mahdi Scouts stand out. One of the primary goals of all Hezbollah’s educational organizations is to identify and recruit outstanding students, pupils, and trainees, serving as a platform for enlisting members into Hezbollah’s military units.