| Summary: | This article explores how educational reform became a primary concern for Shiʿi scholars and religious leaders as a means of integrating the Shiʿa of Lebanon into the broader national project during the French Mandate (1920-43). According to these Shiʿi writers, the lack of education contributed to their political and social marginalization as a community. This was the impetus for the development of the ʿ Āmiliyya school in Beirut and the Jaʿfariyya school in Tyre. Based on archives from the ʿ Āmiliyya and the Jaʿfariyya schools, this paper reflects on the pedagogical approaches taken by both schools to educate and "modernize" Shiʿi children during the French Mandate and early independence periods. Although each school had differing, and at times contrasting, objectives, their calls for educational advancement demonstrate Shiʿi efforts of inclusion into the new "modern" Lebanese nation-state. The establishment of the ʿ Āmiliyya and the Jaʿfariyya schools demonstrates the growing sectarian and national underpinnings of the period.
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