The Schneller Schools

Living together

Christian and Muslim children and adolescents grow up side by side in the Schneller Schools in Lebanon and Jordan. Together they live in residential groups and attend school. From their earliest youth they learn to be tolerant towards other religions. As a rule the children and young people come from poor families which cannot afford school fees. Many of them are orphans or have only one parent. After completing their schooling some of them go on to learn a manual trade in the workshops attached to the school.

The Johann Ludwig Schneller School was founded in 1952 in Khirbet Kanafar (Lebanon). The Theodor Schneller School in Amman (Jordan) has existed since 1959. Both institutions go back to the Syrian Orphanage founded by Swabian educationist Johann Ludwig Schneller in 1860 in Jerusalem.

The Schneller Schools are largely financed by donations and church tax revenue from Germany. There is also a traditional prayer request during Lent, when special offerings are made in church services for the schools. Both schools are, however, are under the oversight of local bodies. The National Evangelical Church of Beirut is responsible for the Johann Ludwig Schneller School in that city. The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East oversees the Theodor Schneller School. Both are EMS partner churches.

Schneller education celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2010. On 14 November there was a big anniversary event with a festive service in Stuttgart’s collegiate church (Stiftskirche) and a ceremony at the town hall.