The KEA Evening School Gabriel Injejikian Founded - 2/2

Vahe H. Apelian

Vartkes Apelian’s narrated his recollection of the founding Lebanon’s Kessab Educational Association’s (KEA) evening schoo and posted it in the 2020 KEA Yearbook and Directory (the link is attached below).  This blog describes the school in its last few years, before its closure.

It was in the early 1970s when I joined the teaching staff of the evening school of the Kessab Education Association of Beirut.  Rev. Hovhannes Sarmazian was the principal of the evening school. He was a seminary student then at the Near East School of Theology (N.E.S.T.), which was almost a block away from the Khanamirian School. The administrator of the school was Ms. Berjouhy Cholakian. Stepan Panossian who is the father of Dr. Razmig, the director of the Armenian Department of the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, Portugal, and Hovhannes Panossian served as liaisons between the evening school and the K.E.A. Central Committee and facilitated the functioning of the school within the Khanamiran school premises. The funds to cover the expenses of the school, such as textbooks, letterheads and upkeep of the school premises were raised by the Central Committee of the Kessab Educational Association of Beirut. The attendance of the school was free. The evening school held its classes in the classrooms of the Souren Khanamirian Armenian School in West Beirut.

Gabriel Injejikian had founded the evening school in 1950. His funeral will be held today, April 27, 2019. In his obituary, I read that he was born on December 12, 1930, in Kessab. He was then a twenty years old student at the American University of Beirut when he founded the school under the auspices of the Kessab Educational Association of Beirut. In hindsight, I realize that the young college student Gabriel was, had started exhibiting his nascent calling for making headways in education where no one else before him had taken upon himself to chart a course for the benefit of his countrymen. Before I joined the school, it held its classes in the rooms of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation social center in West Beirut.

Most of the teachers were students at the American University of Beirut and at Haigazian College and not all of them were Kessabtsis. It was a veritable school serving the greater Armenian community of Beirut. The evening school had multiple classes, offered textbooks, prepared tests, exams, and issued report cards. The most popular classes were the English language classes as there were many students who were eager to learn the language.

Teaching Staff, standing left to right: Hrair Soghomonian, Vahe H. Apelian, Hovhannes Megerditchian, Haig Tilbian, Araxie Kazanjian, Vicken Hovsepian, Nishan Basmadjian, Hapet Garabedian, Ara Demerjian. Seated: Prapion Parounagian, Hovhannes Panossian, Berjouhy Cholakian (assistant to principal), Rev. Hovhannes Sarmazian (Principal), Shakeh Nokhoudian.

Most of the students were the Armenian young men and women who had left school early on in pursuit of a trade. It was not unusual then for students to leave school after elementary education to learn a trade such as jewelry, auto mechanic, shoemaking and so forth. These Armenian young men and women had a longing to be in a school setting. The evening school provided them the forum to do so. They occupied the same classroom, sat on the same seats students of the Souren Khanamirian School did in the morning. They tended to become good students who did their assignments diligently and had excellent attendance, even though some traveled long distances to attend the evening classes. They were eager to learn English and as well as other subjects. At times romance would blossom among the students much like in any educational setting.

There were Armenians students from East Europe as well who were on their way to the United States through the sponsorship of ANCHA (Armenian National Committee for Homeless Armenians). ANCHA was headquartered in West Beirut and thus Beirut became a transition zone for these Eastern European Armenians. Many attended the school to learn the English language while waiting for their immigration clearances. The school provided many affidavits on the school's official letterhead to these students for their use in the U.S. when their immigration statuses were cleared and they prepared to embark on their journeys to the United States of America.

There were some grown-up ladies as well who had raised their families and wanted to give time for themselves and attended the evening school to study its most favorite subject, English.

The evening school of the Kessab Educational Association of Beirut had run for two decades when I joined. Sadly, it was closed a year or two after my joining it due to the prevailing situation in Beirut on the verge of an impending civil war.

Teachers and Kessab Education Association of Beirut Committee Members